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Socialite Joanne Herring wins 'War'

Wednesday, December 12th 2007, 4:00 AM

Former Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson and his ex-fiancee, Joanne Herring, won a second victory at Monday's L.A. premiere of "Charlie Wilson's War."

The ex-lovers - who supplied the mujahedeen with the guns they needed to chase the Russians out of Afghanistan - succeeded in detonating parts of the script that suggested Wilson and Herring had also seeded the events of 9/11.

Herring, played by Julia Roberts in the Mike Nichols film, tells us she "practically choked" when she read Aaron Sorkin's original screenplay. The movie ended with a shot of the Pentagon in flames, implying that Herring and Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) had abetted Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda crew.

"Can you ever predict a war?" she argues. "The shelf life of a Stinger missile is five years. There's no weapon we got them that can be used today."

Herring also didn't cotton to the way Sorkin had Roberts swearing, spouting evangelical screeds and engaging in martini-fueled romps with Hanks.

"I didn't like the cursing, the drinking, the blatant sex," says the 78-year-old thrice-married Houston socialite, philanthropist and former talk show host. "They turned me into a kooky, hypocritical tart."

After sharing the script with Wilson, she says, "We wept and wailed and gnashed our teeth." Then they brought in some legal muscle - Dick DeGuerin (Tom “still The Hammer” DeLay’s attorney against Texas DA Ronnie “Soros Shadow Party & Ultra Liberal Hack” Earle - FlA), the Houston attorney who represented Robert Durst, the deranged New York real estate heir who, as Herring notes, "killed his neighbor and chopped him in pieces. Dick got him off."

DeGuerin got the attention of Universal and the producers, who flew Wilson and Herring to meet the stars in Morocco, which was doubling as Afghanistan.

"Tom Hanks said to me, 'I've been in love with you for six months, give me a kiss!' I was delighted to. And Julia Roberts was so lovely.

"They still wouldn't let me on the set," she adds. "I said, 'What do you think I'm going to do - roll on the floor and foam at the mouth?'"

Assured that the script would be changed, Herring flew to the L.A. premiere with Houston pals, who included former Secretary of State James Baker. To everyone's great relief, she and Wilson liked what they saw on the screen.

Herring admitted that, just like in the movie, she wore slinky dresses to meet men in power.

"That's the only way anyone would listen to me," she laughs. "I'm a Christian, but even Christ liked to have a good time."

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/12/12/2007-12-12_socialite_joanne_herring_wins_war.html

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12.17.07 FlAttorney says: I saw the theater release movie at a Houston private screening last week with my brother and several members of his law firm. It doesn’t hold a candle to the book. Based on the above threat of litigation I understand about 40 minutes was cut out of the original version. I was given 6 pages of details as to what was cut out of the movie but haven’t had time to review it. However, I have to side with our River Oaks “always been a pistol” Joanne on this matter. I understand there was a bunch of hatchet job ultra liberal total distortions of the facts in the original version along with the crapola 9/11 WTC tied ending showing the plane hitting the Pentagon. Charlie (Wilson) said the movie made him look a lot better than he really was - and it made Joanne look much worse than she really was. Bottom line, it’s just a movie. Don’t read anything into it. [snip-TAB]

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

Dick DeGuerin goes Hollywood December 14, 2007

As the paparazzi lined up along the red carpet to snap photos of celebrities for the Dec. 10 premiere of the film “Charlie Wilson’s War” — the true account of a Texas congressman’s efforts to help fund a Cold War defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan — they had the chance to shoot the movie’s stars, including Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Dick DeGuerin. Wait a minute. DeGuerin? As it turns out, the Houston criminal-defense lawyer played a behind-the-scenes role in the making of the movie, which opens Dec. 21. The film recently was nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

DeGuerin was the guest of Joanne King Herring, a Houston socialite who Roberts portrays, at the premiere of the movie at the Universal Studio AMC Theater in Hollywood. “Joanne King was and is my client and friend,” says DeGuerin, a partner in DeGuerin Dickson & Hennessy. “She’s the one who really got Charlie Wilson to do what he did.”

King was an honorary consul to Pakistan in the 1980s. She convinced Wilson, then a member of the House Appropriations Committee, to help funnel money to the Afghan mujahedeen, the resistance fighters who eventually drove the Soviets out of their country. Pakistan played a role in the conflict in the 1980s, because the country served as a refuge for thousands of Afghans who fled their homeland during the Soviet occupation. Pakistan urged the United States to become involved in the war. Wilson’s story made for a popular 2003 book “Charlie Wilson’s War” and the new movie of the same name.

But when Herring was leaked a copy of the movie script, she was not happy, DeGuerin says. “They had written a script that had her cussing like a sailor and doing things that she never did. She got me to threaten the producers with a lawsuit if they didn’t change it. And they did,” DeGuerin says. DeGuerin ended up sitting next to Herring at the premiere and met Hanks, who plays Wilson — proof that everyone was “very happy” after the resolution of the script conflict, he says. -- John Council

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Email rec’d, don’t know original source. FYI, Dick is a Texas “yellow dog” Democrat and Tom DeLay’s attorney in the Ronnie Earle – Soros Shadow Party Texas hit job – fla

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB