I believe we can scratch off Roman Polanski’s “The Palace” for Cannes consideration.
I have a source telling me, Polanski’s go-to cinematographer, Pawel Edelman briefly mentioned that a September premiere is in the works for “The Palace.” He didn’t further elaborate, but who are we kidding here? That’s when the Venice Film Festival is happening.
Back in February, a Variety report had confirmed that the film had been submitted to both the Venice and Cannes selection committees. Polanski’s latest currently has an April 6th release date in Italy, but that will probably change shortly.
Polanski, who is now 89 years old, has had his last five films premiering at festivals. Cannes (“Based on a True Story,” “Venus in Fur”); Venice (“An Officer and a Spy,” “Carnage”); and Berlin (“The Ghost Writer”). The problem for him, and this latest film, is that his narrative has radically changed since then.
These days, Polanski’s reputation in France isn’t great. The Polish filmmaker has been embroiled in a few sexual abuse allegations that have made him a marked man in that country.
If you remember, Polanski caused quite the stir at the 2020 Cesars (French Oscars) after he won the Best Director award. This past year, the Cesars committee decided to ban any invitees from future ceremonies with a criminal sexual history.
Venice, on the other hand, would make more sense since Polanski premiered his last film there, 2019’s “An Officer and a Spy” and even won the Grand Jury Prize. It would be a much better fit than going to Cannes, where some press and audiences would surely be awaiting Polanski with sharpened knives.
“The Palace” cost $17 million to make and stars John Cleese, Mickey Rourke and Fanny Ardant. The movie is said to take place at a palace in Gstaad on New Year’s Eve in 1999, with “Hotel guests coming from all over the world flock to the lavish dinner party, but the celebrations take an unexpected turn.”
“EO” filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski co-wrote the screenplay for “The Palace” and, as previously mentioned, Pawel Edelman is back as cinematographer for this latest Polanski.