Polanski speaks out
2005-09-23 11:17
New York - Roman Polanski, in a rare magazine interview, discussed his libel lawsuit against Vanity Fair, winning the Oscar for his 2002 Holocaust drama, The Pianist, and what motivated him to make his new film, Oliver Twist.
Earlier this year, a British court awarded the 72-year-old director $87 000 (about R551 536) in damages plus court costs for a 2002 article in Vanity Fair that accused him of propositioning a model in a New York restaurant while on his way to the 1969 funeral of his murdered wife, Sharon Tate.
"It was such an obvious and blatant lie," he told Entertainment Weekly in its September 30 issue, on newsstands on Monday.
"I had to react to this. ... Because I don't want this to be part of the material that comes up and is reproduced again each time they write about me."
Polanski left the United States in 1978 rather than face sentencing on child-sex charges. He lives in Paris with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, and their two children, ages 12 and 7.
Because of his fugitive status, he had to watch the 2003 Oscar ceremonies from a Paris hotel. The filmmaker said he was surprised by the reaction of the audience when he won the Oscar for The Pianist.
"A standing ovation? I didn't expect it," he told the magazine. "There's no doubt for me it was a special experience, that film."
His latest movie, Oliver Twist, was set to open in limited release on Friday.
Polanski, whose screen credits also include Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown, said he could identify with the story about a penniless orphan who wanders from a workhouse into a gang, searching for a place in the world.
He grew up in Poland's Krakow ghetto during World War II. His parents were sent to Nazi death camps, and his mother died at Auschwitz.
"Naturally, when you have these experiences, echoes of these things will find their place in your work," he says. "But one doesn't linger."
On the net:
www.ew.com
www.sonypictures.com
- SAPA