MIAMI (AP) - Paris Hilton hated her 2006 movie "Pledge This!"
and refused for months to make promotional appearances for it
despite a contract requiring her to do so, lawyers for the film's
investors said as trial opened Thursday in an $8 million lawsuit
against her.

"During the six-month period, at no time would she take 10
minutes to do a phone interview," attorney Bryan West, who
represents the investors, said in opening statements.

With Hilton nodding vigorously from her defense table seat, her
attorney Michael Weinsten insisted she did numerous appearances for
the movie but was unavailable to meet many requests by the film's
producers because of her extremely busy schedule. Hilton also had
the right to refuse some promotion events that might harm her
"brand" and never agreed to plug the DVD release of the movie
from December 2006 through May 2007, he said.

"Paris Hilton is a promotion machine," Weinsten said. "For 2½
years, she relentlessly promoted that movie."

Hilton, a 28-year-old heiress, actress and model, is expected to
testify Friday. She traveled to Miami for the trial from Dubai,
where she has been filming episodes of her "My New BFF" reality
show. Wearing a sleeveless black-and-white dress with a large bow
on the back, Hilton sat quietly at the defense table during opening
statements, occasionally taking notes or fiddling with her twin
ponytails.

The lawsuit is being heard by Chief U.S. District Judge Federico
Moreno, who has a well known sense of humor. Moreno at one point
asked West whether the contract allowed Hilton to refuse even the
most outrageous promotion requests.

"If you said, 'She has to parade nude down the Champs-Elysees
with a Pledge This! banner' ... and she said no, would that be
breach of contract?" Moreno asked. Then, answering his own
question, he added, "No, of course not."

The lawsuit seeks $8.3 million in damages, essentially to recoup
the money spent to make and distribute the film. It was filed by
attorney Michael Goldberg, a court-appointed receiver for a
now-defunct Miami company that was the movie's key investor. That
company was shut down as a $300 million Ponzi scheme by the
Securities and Exchange Commission, with its operator now living in
Brazil.

Weinsten acknowledged that Hilton wasn't pleased with the final
cut of "Pledge This!" - which concerns the antics of a fictional
sorority at equally fictional South Beach University - but he said
she did what she could to plug it. She was paid $1 million to act
in the lead role, yet the movie only made about $2.9 million and
appeared on just 25 theater screens.

The investors claim it could have done much better as a DVD
release if Hilton had done more promotion, particularly in Japan
and Europe where she is a huge star.

"It might have made a difference. It would have done better,"
West said.