ROMAN POLANSKI

[private witt]

I'm still trying to process the words "James Belushi" being in the same sentence as "Roman Polanski". 

[MacGuffin]

Watch This: 'Greed', Starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams
Source: Cinematical

Did you know that Roman Polanski directed a short film posing as a perfume ad starring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams? Well, you know now. Greed is apparently the latest project from the Italian performance artist Francesco Vezzoli, and it's a very short film made to look like a perfume advertisement about two girls who duke it out over the right to wear this new fragrance. Dazed Digital has the short up on their site alongside this description:

"Directed by Roman Polanski and featuring Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams embroiled in a fierce battle over the fanciful scent, the spurious campaign attempts to isolate and imitate the hype created by the promotion of a new luxury product in the mass market."


http://dazeddigital.com/Fashion/article/1769/1/Francesco_Vezzolis_Greed_Online_Premiere

[MacGuffin]

Polanski gives no hint of returning to U.S.
The film director has not taken any steps to surrender next week and ask a judge to dismiss his 1977 child-sex case. He would face arrest on his arrival from France.
By Harriet Ryan; Los Angeles Times

In February, more than three decades after movie director Roman Polanski decided the judge in a child-sex case was giving him a raw deal and fled to France, another Los Angeles judge extended an olive branch: There's evidence you weren't treated fairly, the judge said.

But if you want to ask that the charges be dismissed, he added, you must return to the U.S.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza gave Polanski 2 1/2 months to turn himself in. But as Thursday's deadline approaches, there is no evidence the director of "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" will surrender.

He has not contacted the court. His lead attorney refused to say whether Polanski would return, and his agent, Jeff Berg, would say only that the director is currently "shooting a picture in Germany" -- a political thriller starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor.

There also is no indication that Polanski, a French citizen, has taken any steps to cut through the bureaucratic red tape he must deal with before he could travel to Los Angeles.

Polanski's 1977 guilty plea to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl constitutes a crime of "moral turpitude," which precludes foreigners from getting on an airplane bound for the U.S., according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman.

A State Department official said someone with such a charge on their record would have to apply for a visa at an American embassy, produce documents explaining why he or she required entry to the U.S. and await clearance from the Department of Homeland Security.

A court spokesman said no one from Polanski's camp has sought a letter from the judge detailing the need for Polanski's presence.

Once on American soil, Polanski faces immediate arrest as a fugitive, but a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said neither the director nor his representatives have reached out to the agency.

At the February hearing, the judge urged Polanski's attorneys to give him plenty of notice to make security arrangements for his arrival.

"These things aren't done by the seat of the pants in an instant," said court spokesman Allan Parachini.

Among other necessary preparations, he said, would be a plan to manage the large number of international news media expected for any appearance by Polanski.

Los Angeles was the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, including the filming of "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby"; in 2003, he won an Academy Award for best director for "The Pianist." But L.A. also was the site of his greatest heartbreak -- the 1969 murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by followers of Charles Manson.

Polanski has given mixed signals about whether coming back to the U.S. is important to him.

Since December, his attorneys have mounted an aggressive and presumably costly attempt to have the case thrown out.

The acknowledgment by Espinoza, the supervising judge of the criminal division, of misconduct in the handling of Polanski's case came after hundreds of pages of court filings suggesting that new information -- much of it from a documentary released last year -- shows judicial and prosecutorial wrongdoing.

But in one of the documents, a lawyer for Polanski said the director, now 75 and remarried with two children, "has no plans ever to return to the United States."

If Polanski does not appear in court next week, Espinoza has said he will deny the director's request for a dismissal of the case.

That will not spell the end of the 32-year-old case, however. In a letter to another judge earlier this month, a lawyer for Polanski said he would appeal if the request was denied.

[MacGuffin]

Polanski's 'Ghost' scares up funds
Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan star in film
Source: Variety

Roman Polanski's political thriller "The Ghost," which just wrapped shooting at Studio Babelsberg outside of Berlin, has picked up E4 million ($5.45 million) in extra coin from the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and the German Federal Film Board (FFA).

The adaptation of Robert Harris' novel, about a ghostwriter hired to finish the memoirs of a former British prime minister who is the target of a war crimes indictment, stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams.

The film, which began lensing in Germany in February, nabbed nearly $4.8 million from the DFFF, which is administered by the FFA, as well as $680,717 from the FFA directly.

Co-produced by Elfte Babelsberg Film, a unit of the studio's Babelsberg Film division, "The Ghost" had already received $680,717 from regional subsidy org Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and $272,263 from Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein for a total of $6.4 million in grants.

The pic is also likely to land coin from regional subsidy org Filmbuero MV in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Summit Intl. film , which has yet to be picked up Stateside, is being released in Germany via Kinowelt.

Polanski, Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde are producing "The Ghost" along with Henning Molfenter, Carl Woebcken and Christoph Fisser of Studio Babelsberg and Timothy Burrill of U.K. shingle Runteam.

"The Ghost" is the latest high-profile production to receive coin from the $80 million-a-year DFFF. In February Quentin Tarantino's Cannes screener "Inglourious Basterds" nabbed $8.7 million.

[children with angels]

Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland
Source: Guardian.co.uk

The Oscar-winning film director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody in Switzerland after travelling to collect an award at the Zurich film festival.

The festival organisers, who had been due to give the 76-year-old director a lifetime achievement award, did not give details of the arrest, but it is believed to be over a 31-year-old US arrest warrant. The director fled the US in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Polanski was detained by police yesterday as he travelled from France to Switzerland to receive his award.

A Zurich police spokesman, Stefan Oberlin, confirmed Polanski's arrest, but refused to provide more details because he said it was a matter for the Swiss justice ministry. A ministry spokesman, Guido Balmer, declined to comment.

In a statement, the festival organisers said they had "learned of his arrest with great dismay and sadness", but stressed that they would go ahead with a planned retrospective of his work and present the award on another date.

Polanski, who directed classic films including Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, recently sought dismissal of his case on grounds of misconduct by the late judge who arranged a plea bargain and later reneged on it.

In February, Judge Peter Espinoza agreed there had been misconduct by the judge in the original case, but said Polanski must return to the US to apply for dismissal.

His lawyers said he would not return because he is considered to be a fugitive. He has not set foot in the US for 30 years, and has avoided going to countries, such as the UK, that have an extradition treaty with the US.

Polanski, who was born in Paris, has lived in France for the past 30 years and his career has continued to flourish.

He won an Oscar for his 2002 film the Pianist, with the award collected on his behalf by the actor Harrison Ford.

[cinemanarchist]

The Swiss haven't arrested anyone in like 18 years. Don't their police officers carry lollipops or something? They're lucky they can still claim Bergman or else I would say we should all start calling it Freedom Miss. Totally ridiculous.

[modage]

I thought they were supposed to stay neutral! 

[Gold Trumpet]

I hope they pardon Polanski. His guilt in the matter is useless because the original judge agreed to give him a plea bargain and then went back on his deal. He can't do that. It can only happen when a prosecutor makes a deal with a defendent before getting the judges approval of the deal. In this circumstance though the case should be thrown out.

[Reinhold]

I hope they pardon Polanski. His guilt in the matter is useless because the original judge agreed to give him a plea bargain and then went back on his deal. He can't do that. It can only happen when a prosecutor makes a deal with a defendent before getting the judges approval of the deal. In this circumstance though the case should be thrown out.

You seem to be missing that he fucked a thirteen year old girl. Then he left the country before it was legal for him to do so, whether or not he felt justified in doing so. He's lived a millionaire's life as a globally respected artist instead of going to jail (if that's where he was headed) and he was (or should be) aware of his legal status as a fugitive. I'm not saying you have to fry the man now (especially because the woman doesn't want any attention now) but I have zero sympathy for this guy. He should at least go to court in my opinion. That whole thing happened in the 70's, sure... but isn't pedophilia supposed to be the most repeated felony or something like that? It's a nearly baseless assumption, but I'd wager that he's done plenty of other jail-worthy things in the 30 years since and the international community has been enabling him by not arresting him sooner.

[cine]

You seem to be missing that he fucked a thirteen year old girl.

GT knows that but you seem to be missing that there's more to a news story than the headline.

[Alexandro]

The Swiss haven't arrested anyone in like 18 years. Don't their police officers carry lollipops or something? They're lucky they can still claim Bergman or else I would say we should all start calling it Freedom Miss. Totally ridiculous.

Bergman is from Sweden. Or am I missing something here??

It's sad that they can't let this guy just live his fucking life. If the woman affected by his misconduct has publicly stated forgiveness and would prefer the whole thing to just go away, I don't see what this supposed "duty" for doing justice in this case means.

Polanski has gone through enough in this life, but people are always ready to pinpoint what's wrong in others.

[Pas]

Polanski has gone through enough in this life, but people are always ready to pinpoint what's wrong in others.

Oh man! I bet a lot of people would've like to have known that if your parents die in WWII and your wife is murdered you can drug and rape in the ass 13 year old girls!!!

Yeah and also I have a hard time with people trying to pinpoint that there's something wrong with drugging and raping in the ass a 13 year old girl.

I'm sure it's a good thing to let people know that if you're a rich artist laws don't apply to you.

Easy sarcasm aside, wake the fuck up. 13 years old is YOUNG. You CANNOT mistake that for 18.

[Alexandro]

I'm not saying is right or wrong what he did. I'm saying the person who was affected already said he is forgiven and should be left alone. Anything else is bullshit. Him being arrested or whatnot will not set any precedent or stop sex with minors, so you can claim all this justice talk all you want, there are way more important things in this world for police to do than prosecute some old fuck for a thing he did 40 years ago that not even the person that was done to cares about anymore. There's not point in arguing about this, we will not get anywhere.

[Gold Trumpet]

You seem to be missing that he fucked a thirteen year old girl. Then he left the country before it was legal for him to do so, whether or not he felt justified in doing so. He's lived a millionaire's life as a globally respected artist instead of going to jail (if that's where he was headed) and he was (or should be) aware of his legal status as a fugitive. I'm not saying you have to fry the man now (especially because the woman doesn't want any attention now) but I have zero sympathy for this guy. He should at least go to court in my opinion. That whole thing happened in the 70's, sure... but isn't pedophilia supposed to be the most repeated felony or something like that? It's a nearly baseless assumption, but I'd wager that he's done plenty of other jail-worthy things in the 30 years since and the international community has been enabling him by not arresting him sooner.

I never said he shouldn't go to court, but I said I hope they pardon him. Yes, he did something bad (I address that) and he skipped out when it wasn't legal for him to do so, but the pressing matter is that the judge went back on his word. They still may get him for fleeing, but he should be absolved in the original matter for that. All I am falling is the rule of the law.

[pete]

they won't pardon him; the best way it looks for everyone if he does a little time and then gets repealed or something.