I named Roman Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby” as the 4th greatest horror movie of all-time. It is, by all accounts, a masterpiece of the genre, but very much driven by its director's style and voice. However, don't expect to find Polanski's name anywhere near Paramount’s marketing for the movie’s 50th anniversary re-release. There's an official trailer, with no Polanski, a synopsis, with no Polanski, and a poster, with no Polanski. Blasphemous? You betcha. Out of the ordinary? Well, given the current times we live in, I have to sadly be inclined to answer, of course not.
This is all-too-very-ridiculous. Changing history like this is detrimental to the film. Polanski will always be connected to "Rosemary's Baby." As you watch it today, you feel his presence in every frame. I fully condemn what he did in the summer of 1977, but you can't ignore every pervert that took part in old projects. Is the goal? To permanently erase them from history? Because that can never happen.
Here's a little 101 refresher on the Polanski controversy:
When Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby were expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I was rather flabbergasted at how that committee could possibly perceive Polanski to be in the same predatorial league as Cosby.
Cosby drugged and raped more than 60 women in his life. Polanski? He had sex with Samantha Geimer, an underage teenage girl back in 1977. Polanski, angered by the Academy's decision, called it “the height of hypocrisy.” Even Geimer has been telling news outlets to let it go and stop harassing Polanski for something that happened more than four decades ago, "I've grown up, why can't everybody else?" she recently tweeted.
This comes on the heels of news that Polanski has a new film brewing, this latest project would deal with a man accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Coincidence? Esquire condemned Polanski for even contemplating making such a movie; However, Geimer quickly lashed back at them:
“Roman hardly needs a #MeToo comeback. This is all you’ve got Esquire, attacking a man who has apologize and made amends years ago?” she tweeted.
“Pleaded guilty served his time,” Geimer continued. “Abused along with his ‘victim’ by the same insane judge. I’ve grown up, why can’t everyone else.”
Geimer also spoke about the handwritten apology Polanski sent her: “It was really meaningful to the other people around me who care about me, which then made it really meaningful to me. Anything that can make my mom feel better is something I’m grateful for,” she said.
The 85-year-old director has stated that the #MeToo movement was just part of the “mass hysteria that occurs in society from time to time. Sometimes it’s very dramatic, like the French Revolution or the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France, or sometimes it’s less bloody, like 1968 in Poland or McCarthyism in the U.S. Everyone is trying to back this movement, mainly out of fear. I think it’s total hypocrisy.”