The 76th Venice Film Festival will no doubt be thrust into controversy tomorrow when Roman Polanski’s new movie “An Officer And A Spy” premieres in Competition. Polanski won’t be attending the festival or doing general press but he did decide to give a very candid interview to a French media outlet about the whole affair and how the #MeToo movement is “convict and condemn without a fair trial or a right of appeal.” [via Deadline]
The legendary Polanski has remained a controversial figure ever since his arrest in 1977 for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. Pleading guilty to the lesser offence of unlawful sex with a minor, Polanski served 42 days in jail but then became a fugitive of the U.S. by fleeing the country after learning that a judge was planning on giving him a long sentence.
In the aforementioned interview, the 86 year-old Polanski discusses, with French writer Pascal Bruckner, being “cancelled” in Hollywood due to #MeToo I don’t recommend scrolling through the interview if you don’t want to read Bruckner’s praising and defending of Polanski, especially when he asks the director how he can possibly be “surviving the present-day neo-feminist McCarthyism”.
As I have mentioned before, there are a lot of parallels to today’s world in “An Officer and A Spy” and Polanski does admit being fascinated by “the story of a man unfairly accused …” stating that “it is very much a current issue, given the upsurge in anti-semitism.”
In fact, Polanski believes the horrifying events which occur in the film could very well happen today. “All the ingredients are there for it to happen: false accusations, lousy court proceedings, corrupt judges, and above all ‘social media’ that convict and condemn without a fair trial or a right of appeal.”
Polanski’s victim Samantha Geimer has said she has forgiven Polanski and accepted a private apology. She has also said that the Academy banning him is an “ugly and cruel" act, and that Hollywood elites are ‘douchebags'
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.