HBO 'Luck' Director Michael Mann Blames TMZ for Killing Show

Director Michael Mann straight up LIED to the cast and crew of "Luck" yesterday ... insisting the reason the show got cancelled is because TMZ "unfairly spun" the story about a THIRD horse dying on set.

Sorry Michael ... no spin here.

Mann and producer David Milch addressed the staff right after HBO pulled the plug on the show yesterday ... and explained, "If you take a look at the media coverage that has been spun unfairly. If you saw the media coverage ... It's TMZ and everybody else."

Let's take a look at the facts ...

-- THREE horses died on their watch. No spin.
-- Horse #3 was euthanized on the set ... and production continued a few hours later
-- Publicist Karen Jones initially LIED to TMZ about the story ... in an effort to stall us from publishing.