All
  • All
  • Products
  • Articles
  • Videos
  • Galleries
  • Conversations
  • Social

Roman Polanski

Front Page: Roman Polanski's Bid For Prison Release Rejected
News

Front Page: Roman Polanski's Bid For Prison Release Rejected

Roman Polanski's request for bail has been denied by the Swiss.
by

  • Roman Polanski's request for bail has been denied by the Swiss. The filmmaker will stay in jail pending a decision on his extradition to the US. — Bloomberg
  • David Letterman apologized to his wife and staff on last night's show. — BuzzSugar
  • President Obama plans to unveil a report pushing for sweeping immigration reform. — Wall Street Journal
  • Murder suspect Raymond Clark is expected in court today, as police continue to treat the murder of Yale student Annie Le as a case of workplace violence. — CNN
  • Apple has decided to quit the US Chamber of Commerce, citing the group's conservative attitudes on climate change and opposition to reducing greenhouse gasses. — Politico
Roman Polanksi Held In Switzerland on 32-year-old Statutory Rape Charges
Poll

Are You Interested in the Roman Polanski Arrest Drama?

Filmmaker Roman Polanski, who fled the US 32 years ago to avoid sentencing in a statutory rape trial, was arrested last week in Switzerland on the request of US authorities.
by

Filmmaker Roman Polanski, who fled the US 32 years ago to avoid sentencing in a statutory rape trial, was arrested last week in Switzerland on the request of US authorities.

Marina Zenovich, the director of the documentary based on Polanski's case Wanted and Desired, has expressed interest in filming more footage of the current happenings, with Brett Ratner coming on to produce it.

There's simultaneous support and protest for Polanski's release, with much of the support coming from fellow filmmakers. The latest is that victim Samantha Geimer, now 45, wants the case dismissed.

Each day brings new developments to the case, but tell me, are you interested in the Polanski matter?

Is It Unseemly That Filmmakers Are Calling For Polanski's Release?
News

Is It Unseemly That Filmmakers Are Calling For Polanski's Release?

There's no question that Roman Polanski is one of the greatest living directors.
by

There's no question that Roman Polanski is one of the greatest living directors. It's also clear that he's had tragedy in his life: he survived the Holocaust as a child in Poland and grieved the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate by Charles Manson followers in 1969.

But no matter how mishandled his legal case was in the '70s after he plead guilty to having unlawful sexual relations with a 13-year-old after giving her champagne and part of a quaalude — he has evaded punishment and lived a life of luxury as a celebrated artist in Europe for over 30 years. I was taken aback when I read that 138 people in the film industry, including Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, have signed a petition voicing their opposition to his recent arrest in Zurich, Switzerland, on his way to a ceremony honoring him.

Is there something unseemly about a group (largely made up of men) in a notoriously sexist industry standing up for someone who hasn't been punished for his sexual crime against a child? Is the fact that Polanski is an artist somehow a mitigating factor? I found it particularly galling that Woody Allen — who had an affair with his partner Mia Farrow's adopted teenage daughter and is now married to her — spoke out about what film producer Harvey Weinstein is calling "a terrible situation"? But that's me — what do you think?

Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland in 1977 Child Sex Case
Celebrity Justice

Morning Links — Roman Polanski Arrested in 1977 Sex Case

by

Should Authorities Drop the Polanski Case If Victim Wishes?
Sex

Should Authorities Drop the Polanski Case If Victim Wishes?

It's been more than 30 years since celebrated director Roman Polanski, then 43, plead guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13 year old, after apparently giving champagne and part of a qualude to her.
by

It's been more than 30 years since celebrated director Roman Polanski, then 43, plead guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13 year old, after apparently giving champagne and part of a qualude to her. He served 42 days in a maximum security prison and, right before sentencing, fled the country when the media-conscious judge presiding over the case voiced his desire to give him another 48 days.

Over the weekend, Polanski was arrested at the Zurich airport and awaits the Swiss court's decision on whether or not he will be extradited to the United States.

Polanski, director of such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and the Oscar-winning film The Pianist, has been living in France ever since he fled the US. (He was a no-show at the Oscars when The Pianist won in 2003.) His victim, now 45 and the recipient of an undisclosed sum from Polanski after she sued him, wishes his charges would be dropped and that the whole case would go away. She believes that because his case was so mishandled years ago, continual attempts over the years to revive it bring unwanted publicity — and pain — to her, her husband, and her children.

Roman Polanski Film Gets Swinton, Brosnan, Cage
Books

Roman Polanski Film Gets Swinton, Brosnan, Cage

Roman Polanski's next project has brought on a recent Oscar winner, a man who portrayed James Bond, and.
by


Roman Polanski's next project has brought on a recent Oscar winner, a man who portrayed James Bond, and. . . a Ghost Rider. Polanski will direct an adaptation of the Robert Harris political thriller The Ghost, with Tilda Swinton, Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage set to star. Variety has more:

Cage will play a ghostwriter hired abruptly to finish the memoirs of an ex-British prime minister after the first scribe turned up dead. The ghostwriter's research leads him to uncover skeletons in the pol's closet that put the writer's life in danger. Swinton will play the wife of the former prime minister (Brosnan). Her marriage is crumbling, and she falls for the writer.

This actually sounds like something Michael Clayton director Tony Gilroy would have done an excellent job directing, but obviously I'm equally curious to see what Polanski (you know, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Pianist) will be able to do with it.

Source and source

First Look: HBO's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
TV

First Look: HBO's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

If you're looking for something to watch besides the Greek finale tonight, you might want to head over to HBO, where the very buzzworthy — and very controversial — documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired premieres at 9 p.m.
by


If you're looking for something to watch besides the Greek finale tonight, you might want to head over to HBO, where the very buzzworthy — and very controversial — documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired premieres at 9 p.m.

The film revisits the events of 1977, when Polanski forever tainted his reputation by becoming embroiled in a sex scandal with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski pleaded guilty to a felony charge but then fled to France to avoid serving time in prison; he's never returned to the United States, including when his film The Pianist won him a Best Director Oscar in 2003. The documentary, which HBO bought after it screened at Sundance earlier this year, goes beyond issues of guilt and innocence and looks at the media circus that broke out around the trial, placing much of the blame for what happened on the judge who presided over the proceedings.

Years after fleeing the country, Polanski continues to be a controversial figure, and the film seems to be bringing much of that controversy back into the open: HBO even changed the ending of the film after the Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a stern rebuttal to one of the charges made against it in the movie. It seems like there's no doubt this film will have people talking.

To check out a trailer and a short clip from the film, just read more