It gets weirder: McTiernan and his supporters believe that not only was Saunders a failed actor, but that he'd also auditioned for roles in The Hunt for Red October and Die Hard — and didn't get the parts. In the late '80s, Saunders was represented by a talent agent named Jack Scagnetti. (Scagnetti ran the Jack Scagnetti Agency; one of his clients, Gary Roberts, got a role in Die Hard. Scagnetti's son, Craig, told BuzzFeed it was likely his aging father would not recall any details, and a subsequent interview request was not returned.)

At the time, Saunders was billing himself as a "leading man," and it wasn't uncommon for Scagnetti to send his entire stable of male clients over to audition, according to supporters of McTiernan who were involved in the film industry in the '80s. McTiernan and his supporters say Saunders was finally able to get the ultimate actor's revenge: tossing a director who rejected him into jail. "An Actor Finally Gets Even," read the headline of a press release put out by publicist Ilene Proctor, part of McTiernan's team. "Three people, including those who worked on the casting of film projects in the latter '80s, have identified the Prosecutor[sic] who entrapped John McTiernan into a telephone denial for which he could be prosecuted...as having submitted and probably auditioned for both Die Hard and The Hunt For Red October."

On Monday, I contacted Saunders, who left the government and is currently practicing out of the Santa Monica office of a global law firm called Bingham.

Over the course of the interview, I asked Saunders a series of questions in an attempt to verify the serious claims that McTiernan's camp was making. The following is a description of my exchange with Saunders, who had called me back on his cell phone after I'd left a message at his office:

At first Saunders said that his memories of the seven-year McTiernan prosecution were hazy. (On the Bingham website, Saunders lists the Pellicano case and imprisoning John McTiernan in his official biography.)

After asking for his broader perspective of the case, I then asked Saunders if he'd auditioned for roles in The Hunt for Red October and Die Hard, citing the already public allegations that McTiernan's camp had made.

Saunders told me he'd never been questioned about these acting auditions before and indicated that he was shocked by the line of questioning about his acting career, despite the Vanity Fair story. Saunders also said he was not familiar with the press release McTiernan's supporters had put out naming him. He said McTiernan's claims were "100% bullshit" and that he "may have to sue." He also added he did not do "a single film audition."

Saunders asked to be quoted by BuzzFeed as such: "Mr. McTiernan's pattern [of behavior] through the entire course of this investigation has been to lie, to get caught, and to try to blame somebody else for."