'I got to be my country's James Bond': Hollywood producer tells how he spied for Israel and had access to bank accounts to pay for guns and helicopters



Movie tycoon Arnon Milchan, who owns New Regency Films and produced Fight club and Pretty Woman, opened up in a TV interview about his clandestine deals to acquire weapons for Israel in the 70s

He says he worked to promote the country's alleged nuclear program

Claims he convinced other Hollywood bigwigs, including the late director Sydney Pollack, to get involved

Robert De Niro says he knew what Milchan was doing at the time



'I did it for my country and I'm proud of it,' says the movie producer

Milchan's next film is Noah, a Darren Aronofsky-directed take on the Bible, starring Russell Crowe, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins

Israeli spy: Movie tycoon Arnon Milchan, who owns New Regency Films, has given details about his clandestine deals to acquire weapons for Israel in the 70s in a TV interview

A big-shot Hollywood producer who for decades was working as an Israeli spy and arms dealer has defended his actions and said it was 'exciting' being his country's 'James Bond.'

Arnon Milchan, 68, who's famous for smash hit movies including 'Fight Club' and 'Pretty Woman,' spoke openly for the first time about his espionage work in an Israeli TV special that aired Monday night.

The program reveals Milchan, at the special request of his friend Shimon Peres, who is now the country's president' set up and operated some 30 companies in 17 countries that helped Israel obtain parts and plans for its nuclear project in the 1980s. He brokered deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the show.

'I did it for my country and I'm proud of it,' Milchan said of his work for Israel's now-defunct spy unit Bureau of Scientific Relations.

'Do you know what it was like to be a 20-something guy whose country decided to let him be James Bond? Wow! The action! That was exciting.'

The film tycoon spoke to Israeli investigative journalist Ilana Dayan for the season premiere of her current affairs show, Uvda.

Milchan was born in 1944 in what was then Palestine but was a successful young businessman in the United States when Peres, then in the defense department, recruited him to help following the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

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'I knew': Robert De Niro sits next to his friend, Arnon Milchan, in the interview for the show. He says he asked Milchan in the 70s if he was a spy and Milchan admitted it

'Worked for the Israelis': Film director Sydney Pollack, who died of cancer in 2008, was convinced by Milchan to get involved in spying Israeli spy officials used bank accounts set up by Milchan to buy up helicopters and missiles and other defense equipment from around the world, Dayan said. RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next U.S. B-52s flew over China's newly declared air zone after... Americans taken hostage during the Iranian revolution blast... Share this article Share Milchan, the multi-billionaire chairman of New Regency Productions, explains in the program how he also convinced a German engineer to let him photograph plans for a nuclear facility and helped the South African government deal with the international backlash to its apartheid system in exchange for uranium supplied to Israel. When the FBI discovered one of his companies was used to ship nuclear triggers to Israel without proper licenses in 1985, an executive who was involved was indicted. But charges against Milchan were dropped by the Reagan administration. 'I didn't know Israel ordered the triggers,' Milchan told the program. 'I didn't even know what triggers were.' Star power: Milchan, center, is the multi-billionaire chairman of New Regency Productions and rubs shoulders regularly with big film stars including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Justin: He was pictured left with Justin Timberlake in September joking around at the world premiere of Twentieth Century Fox and New Regency's film 'Runner Runner' He explains how famed Hollywood director Sidney Pollack, whose films included 'Tootsie' and 'Out of Africa,' was 'my partner in export in aerospace, planes, all kinds of things, with license.'

'He had to decide what he was willing and what he was not,' Milchan said. 'On many things he said "No." Many things he said "Yes."' Estimated earlier this year to be worth $4.2 billion, Milchan insisted he never profited from his spy work but risked his life multiple times even as rumors swirled around Hollywood. 'In Hollywood, they don't like working with an arms dealer, ideologically... with someone who lives off selling machine guns and killing,' he said. 'Instead of someone talking to me about a script, I had to spend half an hour explaining that I'm not an arms dealer. If people knew how many times I risked my life, back and forth, again and again, for my country.' In the show, Robert De Niro was also interviewed sitting beside Milchan and recalled suspecting something about the producer's 'ventures' decades ago, but 'I wasn't sure.'

Caught on camera: Israeli investigative journalist, Ilana Dayan, spoke to Milchan about his clandestine activities for her new show, Uvda, which airs on Monday

'Accepted it': De Niro says Milchan told him he was an Israeli and that 'of course' he would spy for his country. The actor says he did not judge him for it

When he confronted him, he said: '(Milchan) told me that he was an Israeli and that of course he would do these things for his country.'

Milchan said he wanted to speak out about what he'd done to gain recognition in Israel.



Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and other major Hollywood players also featured in the controversial report that aired on Israel's Channel 2.

Pollack, who died in 2008, acquired arms and other military equipment for Israel in the 1970s, reveals Milchan in the TV report.

ollack knew of the details of the deals, said Milchan, who added that he 'didn't want to scare him because he's American.'



Milchan also said he used at least one big-name actor's star quality to lure U.S. scientist Arthur Biehl – an expert on nuclear weapons and a co-developer of the hydrogen bomb – to a meeting.



Milchan invited Biehl to the actor's home under the pretense the actor was seeking scientific advice for a project he was working on.

Closed down: Jonathan Pollard sits in the back of a US government vehicle in 1985 after being accused of spying. The incident closed down Israel's Bureau of Scientific Relations, which Milchan was also involved with

Secret life: The book titled Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, reveals his double life

Milchan expected Biehl to cooperate because, 'Anyone who lives in California is a star-f*****… They hear "star"…they come running,' he said.

De Niro was asked if he knew what was going on at the time, and he said he did.



'I did ask him once, we spoke about something, he told me that he was an Israeli and that he of course would do these things for his country.

'I remember at some point, I had asked Arnon about that, being friends I was curious, but not in an accusatory way, I just wanted to know.



'He gave me that answer and I accepted it,' said De Niro.

This wasn't the first time Milchan's role in Israeli arms dealings and intelligence surfaced.

Two years ago, a book titled Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, was published by authors Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman.

The book alleged that Milchan was an operative for Israel's Bureau of Scientific Relations, which gathered information for Israel's alleged nuclear program.

The bureau was closed after Jonathan Pollard was arrested for spying on behalf of Israel in 1986.



Milchan is still making movies, and his company, New Regency films, is working on four films slated for release in 2013-14.

