Reese Witherspoon loses a case against paparazzi who allegedly chased her from the gym. Lindsay Lohan's car gets into a scrape with pursuing photographers. And at Britney Spears's baby shower, paparazzo Brad Diaz suffers a pellet-gun injury to the thigh.
According to one Canadian celebrity photographer, it's only a matter of time before a major accident happens that might even bring to mind a certain dark Parisian tunnel and a limousine crumpled beyond recognition.
Eight years after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the war between celebrities and the people who are paid to photograph them drags on. Each of these parties walks a fine line between promoting and exploiting images of the beautiful and famous. And some are even putting lives at risk in the process.
George Pimentel, a Toronto-based photographer who has worked in the industry for 15 years, takes his celebrity pictures at red-carpets events such as the Toronto International Film Festival, which rolls around again next month, or when he's invited to do so by publicists.
He says the industry is changing: Celebrities are taking control of their images, posing for paparazzi and providing photo ops, all carefully supervised by their publicists.
"Celebrities are now embracing the paparazzi, so there are more photos out there," Pimentel says. "It's not as bad as it used to be. They want to control the shoots and control the way they look."
However, the demand for pictures to fill the increasing number of photo-hungry weekly magazines is also attracting anyone with a camera who wants to hang around on the streets or outside glitzy hot spots in the hopes of snapping a hackneyed celebrity shot.
"It's the B-list paparazzi. Those are the guys who are ruining the business with every $300 photo," Pimentel sniffs.
The problem has become so widespread that the B-list photo snatchers are actually stalking the better-known paparazzi, camping out in front of their houses and following them to celebrity sightings.
"It's a taste of their own medicine," he says. "There are so many of them. Everybody wants to make a buck out of this."
All the same, celebrities strolling into a Starbucks in Toronto and Vancouver, baseball cap pulled down low, usually remain relatively free of unwanted attention. Violent run-ins are almost unheard of here.
David Fraser, a privacy lawyer with the firm McInnes Cooper, believes that's because the Canadian media are just a whole lot kinder. At the same time, federal privacy laws specifically exclude journalists and protect freedom of the press, he says. Celebrities who run into problems with paparazzi must turn to trespassing and stalking laws, which may keep the rare pushy snappers at bay.
Paul Duchart, who takes photos for the website Hollywood North Report, adds that of the celebrities he has encountered, most find Canada to be a respite from the photographers' relentless chase. "They're not hounded here like they are in the States," he says.
It's that kind of laid-back attitude that allows a world-renowned paparazzo such as Louie D. to make a decent living in Toronto. The photographer, who would not agree to be interviewed for this article, was the subject of a recent Life Network TV show called Paparazzi. In it, he stalked celebrities such as Madonna and Reese Witherspoon all over the city with the relative ease of a seasoned pro.
But Canada's reputation for easy pickings in the celeb-photo department has not gone unnoticed by established paparazzi who have marked Hollywood North as their territory. Major celebrity photo agencies in the U.S., including the Splash news and picture agency, have begun to hire a variety of local photographers, giving even Louie D. a run for his money, Pimentel says.
Duchart agrees. The culture here is changing, and the paparazzi competition is heating up in Canada, given a year-round filming schedule that brings in the top-shelf stars.
"It's turning into America slowly," he says. "Everybody wants the money shot." Which means rough encounters between celebrities and paparazzi could become more prevalent, or even lawless.
In recent months, photographer Jamie Fawcett was ordered to provide an Australian court with a DNA sample after being accused of planting a listening bug on Nicole Kidman's property. He hasn't been charged, but the court has granted an injunction barring him from Kidman's home.
Cameron Diaz successfully sued a former photographer who took revealing photos of the actress before she was famous and then tried to extort more than $3-million (U.S.) from her. Last month, photographer John Rutter was convicted in California of attempted grand theft, forgery and perjury.
The allegations made against paparazzi are starting to become as twisted as the personal lives of the celebrities they photograph. Some have accused the photo seekers of staging risky stunts in order to get a candid shot. Teen-queen Lindsay Lohan was left with a bruised leg a few weeks ago after a speeding photographer smashed into her car as she left a trendy L.A. restaurant.
The insatiable demand for celebrity images isn't abating, here or abroad. Britain's OK! magazine, which boasts that it is "first for celebrity news," has arrived in North America. And the Toronto Star is starting a glossy magazine titled Weekly Scoop, due to hit the stands in October.
"The solution is for people to stop reading those magazines," Pimentel says. "By reading that stuff, those guys are making money."
He, himself, however, has sold a picture of a post-Brad Jennifer Aniston for the cover of People magazine.
The trend doesn't show signs of slowing down, but Pimentel says celebrities themselves are aware there's a saturation point. Publicists know that to curb the number of intrusive photographers, all they need to do is flood the market with their clients' photos. After a while, the public gets bored and moves on.
"[The celebrities]don't care . . . they don't even shower any more," Pimentel says.
And eventually, the rest of us won't care either.