WEBVTT - Roman Polanski "Disgraced Genius" 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.600 This show contains mature content and adult themes. It may 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:12.960 not be suitable for young audiences. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.520 In twenty seventeen, Harvey Weinstein was outed as a serial 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.440 sexual abuser. Many brave women came forward and told their stories. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.319 They exposed one of Hollywood's most powerful moguls as a 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:30.880 vicious sexual predator who operated horrifically and seemingly without consequences. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.920 But Weinstein was standing on the shoulders of monsters. For 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:39.320 so many years, those monsters remained unchecked in Hollywood, shielded 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.120 by the millions of dollars they made for their studios. 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.959 Sex for fame is not new. In fact, it's as 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:50.440 old as Hollywood itself. There are few sex scandals more 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.360 infamous in Hollywood than Roman Polanski's statutory rape of a 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.560 thirteen year old girl. Polanski was one of the most 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:02.080 innovative and influential directors of the last century. Rosemary's Baby, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.399 which he directed in nineteen sixty eight, reinvented the horror movie, 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:10.840 and Chinatown in nineteen seventy four, reinterpreted noir film for 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:15.520 modern audiences. But Polanski is arguably more famous today for 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.440 his guilty plea on his statutory rape charge in nineteen 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:21.800 seventy seven than he is for winning the Best Director 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.440 Oscar for The Pianist in two thousand and three. In 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:29.680 today's episode of Variety Confidential, will open Variety's archives to 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:34.160 separate fact from fiction about Roman Polanski, the scandal that 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:38.640 has plagued Hollywood for nearly fifty years. From Variety in 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:43.520 iHeart Podcasts, I'm Tracy Patton. This is the Secret history 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:49.760 of the Casting Couch. Today's episode disgraced genius Roman Polanski 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.640 in the studio with me today is Matt Donnelly, Variety's 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.840 senior Entertainment and Media writer. Hi, Matt, Hi, It's great 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.240 to be back, and it's all was so great to 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.000 have your insight into the industry. 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.880 Well, this case is certainly fascinating, and I think one 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.040 of the most important things to know about Polanski that 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.400 modern audiences may not is that he represented something so 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.799 exciting and new in cinema in the sixties and seventies. 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:15.120 So it's not just that he was a successful director, 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:17.280 but really a celebrity in his own right for what 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.440 he represented. And I think all of that vision came 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.400 with power, and I think a lot of that, you know, flash, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:24.799 and a lot of that integrity and a lot of 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:27.880 that prestige blinded many he worked with to behavior that 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:29.120 was going on behind the scenes. 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.919 Yes, and later in the show, we'll discuss the outpouring 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.320 of support in Hollywood for Polanski in two thousand and nine, 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.080 thirty years after he pleaded guilty to statutory rape. And 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:40.640 then we'll look at some of the big names in 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.840 Hollywood who reconsidered that support in the me Too era. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.520 And a small spoiler, one person who did not walk 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.720 back his support for Polanski was Harvey Weinstein and we're. 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.560 Going to talk about that too at the end of 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:51.960 the show. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.480 So, Roman Polanski is considered one of the top film 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:57.760 directors of the past sixty years, but a lot of 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.840 people today might not know exactly who he is. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.239 Yes, and it's likely that even people who've never heard 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:06.520 of Polanski or who've never seen Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:10.800 have probably heard of his wife, the beautiful young actress 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.160 Sharon Tate. Her fame came through a tragedy. She was 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.320 murdered by members of the Charles Manson cult in August 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.640 nineteen sixty nine. Sharon and four HouseGuests were killed in 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:27.480 her home in LA's Benedict Canyon, making it even more tragic, 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.920 Sharon was pregnant and due to deliver in just ten days. 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.880 But the gruesome murder of his wife and unborn son 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.320 was not the first tragedy Roman had experienced. As a 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.760 child in Poland, he watched helplessly as a gang of 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:46.840 Nazi soldiers dragged his mother away. He never saw her again. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.280 Polanski's arrest for statutory rape came just seven years after 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:55.280 his wife and unborn son were murdered. Facing a long 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.040 prison sentence, he fled the country in February nineteen seventy 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.839 eight and has never returned. Roman Polanski continued to make 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:06.800 movies in Europe while in exile from the United States. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.560 He has won Golden Globe Awards and Oscar and prizes 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.040 at the top festivals. In two thousand and nine, dozens 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.560 of Hollywood directors, producers, and stars signed a petition in 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:22.440 support of ending Polanski's exile. But in recent years, more 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.080 women have come forward to accuse Polansky of sexual abuse, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.880 and as a result of the Me Too movement, many 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.719 of Roman's former supporters have publicly disavowed him. 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:35.760 Now, of course, we want to discuss more about that 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.320 rape charge. But first let's talk about his early life. 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.360 Yes, he was born in Paris in nineteen thirty three. 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.280 His parents, who were Polish Jews, returned to Poland in 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.320 nineteen thirty six. Three years after they moved to Krakau, 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.560 the Nazis invaded Poland when Roman was six years old. 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.840 His family and all the other Jews were confined into 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:02.120 the city's ghetto. As conditions deteriorated, food and water became scarce, 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.880 and then the Nazis started arresting people, even entire families, 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.440 and taking them to the death camps. After and during 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.920 months of this, a traumatic event up ended Roman's life. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:19.000 He watched from a hiding place as Nazi soldiers dragged 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.440 his mother out of their house. He never saw her again. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.919 They came back later and took his father, uncle, and 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:30.160 other family members. As the war raged on around him, 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.440 Roman survived by living on the streets and then for 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.159 a few years in the country with a Catholic family. 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.000 When the war ended, his father and uncle were liberated 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:42.960 from the camps. They were reunited in the ghetto, and 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.880 at age twelve, Roman began putting the pieces of his 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:51.360 life back together. After his schooling resumed, he found his 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.839 calling in filmmaking in the early nineteen fifties. He attended 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.400 a film school in the city of Lots where he 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.480 made a series of experiments until short films. 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.839 By Now it's nineteen sixty two and Polanski makes his 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.640 first full length feature film, Knife in the Water. Now. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:08.960 This was an atmosphere of drama about a couple who 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.240 encounters a young hitchhiker, which creates trouble in their marriage, 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:12.680 and it. 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.080 Earned a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination in nineteen sixty 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:18.599 three and won a BAFT Award and a prize at 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:22.400 the Venice Film Festival the following year. Polanski was broke 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.560 then so As Travels were funded by a Polish American 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.560 film producer named Jeane Kutowski. After the success of Knife 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.840 in the Water they formed Cadre Films, with Gutowski as 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.880 producer and Polanski as director. Their first project is Cadre 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.680 was Repulsion, in which a beautiful woman racked with sexual 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:45.200 phobias has a psychotic breakdown in her London apartment. It 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.520 was an international breakthrough for Catherine Deneuve, who had made 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.600 more than a dozen films in France, including the classic 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:55.599 The Umbrellas of Scherbourg. Repulsion proved to be a game 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.800 changer for Polanski, with critics calling him the new Alfred Hitchcock. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.200 It had its detractors, but it was a critical and 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.120 financial success, and won top prizes at the Venice and 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.920 Berlin Film festivals. Cadre was less successful with their next project, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.320 a bizarre comedy horror film titled cul de Sac. It 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.320 opened in nineteen sixty six to mixed reviews and mediocre 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.320 box office receipts. Cadre was on the brink of bankruptcy 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.440 when Polanski and Gutowski met American film and television producer 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:31.000 Martin Ransahoff at a party in London. Ransahoff owned Film Ways, 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.400 the producer of hit sitcoms like The Beverly Hillbillies, Green 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.600 Acres and The Adams Family. Also at the party was 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:41.600 a striking, aspiring actress named Sharon Tate. She would be 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.720 featured in Polanski's next film, The Fearless Vampire Killers, which 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.000 was produced by Cadre and Film Ways. There was no 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.360 love at first sight between Roman and Sharon. He hadn't 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.440 intended to cast her, but Martin Ransahoff had insisted their 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:01.160 romance would develop after the production ended the Fears. Vampire Killers, 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.360 another horror comedy, was panned by the critics and did 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:08.160 poorly at the box office. Polanski blamed Ransahoff for turning 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:13.280 the movie into a Transylvanian Beverly Hillbillies. Caudre's next deal 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:18.040 would produce Polanski's biggest hit to date, Rosemary's Baby, the 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.680 story of a Manhattan woman who was pregnant with Satan's child. 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.640 It was also Polanski's first US production, with filming in 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.280 both Hollywood and New York. Variety reported, with a budget 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.400 of three point two million dollars, the movie was one 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.560 of nineteen sixty eight's biggest winners, bringing twelve point three 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:40.360 million dollars in box office grosses. To Paramount, that revenue 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.079 today would be one hundred and eight point seven million dollars. 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:49.040 The success of Rosemary's Baby changed Polanski's life. He'd found 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.040 love with Sharon Tate, and he'd been welcomed into a 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.120 group of celebrated actors and directors that included Warren Baby, 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:00.600 Jack Nicholson, and Martin Scorsese. Variety's former Edge in chief 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.880 Peter Bart said, Roman started to like this community. He 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.439 loved the fast life. He became a real star. He 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.760 got good tables and restaurants that had not been part 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.320 of his life. You could see him change to a degree. 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.199 The unthinkable happened to Roman. He was actually happy. 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.480 So Pulansky and Sharon Tate were married on January twentieth, 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:25.760 nineteen sixty eight, and a year and a half later, 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:28.040 when Sharon was pregnant with their first child. They rented 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.640 a house on Ciellow Drive in the hills above LA's 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:31.960 Benedict Canyon, and. 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.920 The Polansky spent the first half of nineteen sixty nine 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.839 in Europe. In early August, Roman sent Sharon home by boat. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.320 He believed she was too pregnant to fly. She objected 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.720 to the separation, but he promised to be in Los 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.439 Angeles when the baby was born. He said he was 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.000 staying in London to work on a movie project, but 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.520 after he put Sharon on the ship, Roman reverted to 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.520 his old ways and began hooking up with random women 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.800 every night. He spent the night before the murders with 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.640 a flight attendant. He got the call around ten pm 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:07.360 London time. Sharon and four of their friends had been 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:10.679 shot a knife to death at his home in Benedict Canyon. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:15.240 It's incredibly tragic. After the murders, Roman became a sort 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.160 of sympathetic figure in Hollywood this tragic survivor, and the 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.239 community continued to support him into the early nineteen seventies, 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.560 even though his next few films really failed to connect 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:25.280 with audiences. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.240 There were three films, Polanski's version of Shakespeare's Macbeth in 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.280 nineteen seventy one, and two movies released in nineteen seventy two, 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.400 Weekend of a Champion and a film titled What. Together, 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.640 they grossed just one million dollars. Despite this poor showing, 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.280 Roman's friend Robert Evans, then the vice president of global 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:49.520 production at Paramount, hired him to direct Chinatown. It was 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:52.960 the story of a private detective's investigation into the death 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:56.280 of a Los Angeles water company official and his wife's 0:10:56.440 --> 0:11:01.679 secret incestuous past. Released in nineteen six seventy four, Chinatown 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.600 became an instant film noir classic. It was also a 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:09.560 financial success. It cost three million dollars to make and 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:14.040 grossed twenty nine million dollars worldwide, which would be about 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.840 one hundred and eighty one million dollars today. Chinatown was 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:22.840 nominated for eleven Oscars, including a Best Director nomination for Polanski, 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:26.320 he lost to Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather Part two. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:31.040 The last film Polanski directed before the scandal erupted was 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.320 The Tenant, a Koff Guy esque thriller about a man 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.880 played by Polanski who moves into an apartment where the 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:42.280 previous tenant attempted suicide. Filmed in Paris and released by 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:46.280 Paramount in nineteen seventy six, it grossed one point nine 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:50.199 million dollars, which is about ten million dollars today. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.720 In February of ninety seven, Polanski flew into Los Angeles 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.400 from Paris on business. He had meetings about an upcoming 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.439 film project, and was also there to shoot a photo 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:02.680 spread of young teen girls for Vogue OM, a frenchman's magazine. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.640 His model was Samantha Gaily, the thirteen year old daughter 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.040 of a woman Polansky had picked up in a bar 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.160 a year earlier. The mother would later say she thought 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:15.559 the shoot was for French Vogue. A spread in French 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.720 Vogue would have been a great first credit on Samantha's 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:24.080 modeling resume, but Vogue OM was known for its racy pictorials. 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.000 Near the end of the shoot, second day Polanski photographed 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.720 Samantha at Jack Nicholson's house on Mulholland Drive. Nicholson was 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.199 out of town at the time, but he and Polansky 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.840 were good friends, and Roman felt free to shoot at 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.280 the house without permission. They took some photos outside and 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.280 then moved into the house, where Polanski photographed her in 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.880 a bikini in the jacuzzi. She was nervous, so Polanski 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.800 gave her a glass of champagne, but she balked when 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.199 he told her to take off her top, so Polanski 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.280 told her to call her mother and ask if it 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.040 was okay. Samantha's mother asked if anyone else was there 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.959 with them. Roman told Samantha to say that Angelica Houston, 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.120 Jack Nicholson's girlfriend, was in the house, but of course 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:11.640 she was not. After the call, Polanski gave Samantha a Quelude, 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.079 a sedative that was said to be an aphrodisiac. As 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.680 he photographed her topless in the jacuzzie, the pill took effect. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.280 Polanski took her into a guest bedroom where he sexually 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:27.600 assaulted her, violating her orally, vaginally and anally. She told 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.920 him to stop, but later she says she didn't really 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.600 fight him because there was no one else there and 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.800 I had no place to go. It ended abruptly with 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.400 a knock at the guest bedroom door. Angelica Houston had 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:44.000 come home unexpectedly. Samantha hid under the covers while Roman 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:48.400 and Angelica argued in the hallway. Afterwards, Samantha and Roman 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.000 dressed in a hurry and left the house. On the 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.400 drive back to her mother's house in Woodland Hills, Roman 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.160 made Samantha promise not to tell anyone they had sex. 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.360 She says she would keep their secret, but as soon 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.080 as she got home, her boyfriend came over and she 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:08.240 told him everything. Her sister overheard that conversation and told 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:12.680 their mother. After confronting Samantha, her mother called the police. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.480 Roman was arrested at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and, like 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:17.880 anyone else who would be that news ran on front 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.440 pages around the world. He was in and out of 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:22.920 courtrooms as the scandal played out over the next few months, 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.720 and in August of nineteen seventy seven, he pleaded guilty 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:26.840 to statutory rape. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.480 Polanski and his lawyers had assumed that as part of 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.400 the plea deal, he would not serve time, and when 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.920 it appeared that the judge was considering a prison sentence anyway, 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.280 Roman boarded a flight for Europe. He never returned to 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:42.040 the United States after that. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.280 It's interesting that at the time of Pulanski's arrest, Hollywood 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.880 reacted with shock and outrage, but as time passed, attitudes 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.320 began to soften. It seemed that his genius as a 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.880 filmmaker outweighed this appalling behavior. 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.880 And he directed fifteen films in Europe prior to twenty 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.800 twenty three, often working with top stars like Johnny Depp, 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:05.600 Adrian Brody, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet. Notable among the 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:09.320 European films were Tests, released in nineteen seventy nine, and 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.720 The Pianist, released in two thousand and two. Tests was 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.320 based on a nineteenth century novel and starred Natasha Kinski, 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.200 who Roman had dated when she was fifteen. It grows 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:24.760 twenty million dollars worldwide or about eighty five million dollars today, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:29.400 and was nominated for six Oscars. The Pianist was an 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.120 even bigger success. It was based on the true story 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:38.480 of composer Vladislaw Spielmann's internment in a Nazi concentration camp. 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.680 It grossed one hundred and twenty million dollars worldwide and 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:47.080 was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Actor for its 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:51.800 star Adrian Brody and Best Director for Polanski. Fearing arrest 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.080 if he returned to the United States, Polanski did not 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.600 attend the ceremony. Brody won the Best Actor award and 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:04.520 as evidence that Hollywood's disapproval of Roman was waning. When 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:07.480 it was announced that he had won, he received a 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.400 standing ovation in absentia. 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:13.680 Over the next three years, support for Polansky and Hollywood grew. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:15.920 It reached its peak in September two thousand and nine 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.880 when Roman flew into Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.000 where he was to receive a Lifetime Achievement award. 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.960 And he was detained at immigration because American authorities made 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.280 a provisional request for his arrest. He spent sixty seven 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.200 days in a Zurich detention center while he raised a 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.520 four point five million dollars bond. Because he'd been born 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.000 in Paris, Polanski was protected from extradition as long as 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:45.960 he remained in France. Unlike France, Switzerland had an extradition 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.480 treaty with the United States. After putting up his home 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.880 in Paris as a guarantee. He was released into house 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.760 arrest at his home in the ski resort of Gestad. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.280 The film communities in Europe and in Hollywood reacted to 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:04.480 Roman's arrests us with an outpouring of support. Dozens of actors, directors, 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:09.040 and producers signed a petition calling for Polanski's release. Here's 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.240 a list of a few of them. David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:19.639 Vim Venders, Pedro Almodovar, Wes Anderson, Adrian Brody, Jonathan dem Buck, 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.520 Henry Michael Mann, Julian Schnabel, and Tilda Swinton. Deborah Winger. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:28.359 Then the Zurich Film Festival jury presidents said, we stand 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.240 by and await his release and his next master work. 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.840 We hope today that this latest order will be dropped. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:37.520 It is based on a three decade old case that 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:41.919 is all but dead except for a minor technicality. Sigourney 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.479 Weaver told CNN. He is sweet and very strong, and 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.280 is very, very demanding in the tradition of an alteur. 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.080 Among Polanski's advocates in two thousand and nine were men 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:57.800 who were subjects of abuse allegations themselves. Woody Allen, who 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.400 was accused of abusing his daughter in nineteen nine two, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.600 Disgrace director Brett Ratner, who, as Variety reported in November 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:10.080 twenty seventeen, was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:15.080 six women, and Harvey Weinstein, whose abuses made Hollywood a 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:18.679 focus of the me too movement. In twenty seventeen, in 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.200 a statement to CNN, Weinstein said, we are calling every 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:27.280 filmmaker we can to help fix this terrible situation. Ultimately, 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.040 Switzerland opted not to extradite Polanski and he was once 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:35.000 again free to travel in Europe. Similarly, a court and 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:39.920 Poland ruled it would be quote an obviously unlawful deprivation 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.800 of liberty to extradite Polanski. The court had determined that 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:47.680 the California justice system would not give him a fair trial. 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.720 Now, Tracy, as you mentioned in October twenty seventeen, revelations 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.560 about Harvey Weinstein's serial sexual abuses led to an outpouring 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:59.119 of me two allegations against dozens of Hollywood power players. Before, during, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.080 and after that time. At least five women made allegations 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:03.800 against Roman Polanski. 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.080 And the first of these came seven years earlier, in 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:11.639 twenty ten when British actress Charlotte Lewis accused Polanski of 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.320 forcing himself on her in his apartment in Paris. The 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.400 alleged abuse occurred in nineteen eighty three during an audition 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.840 for the movie Pirates, when she was sixteen years old. 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.320 The second allegation was made in August of twenty seventeen, 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.919 when a woman identifying herself as Robin M claimed she 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:35.399 was sexually victimized at age sixteen by Polanski. At a 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.720 news conference, she said, I'm speaking out now so Samantha 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.160 Gaily and the world will know she is not the 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:46.600 only minor Roman Polanski victimized. When Polanski heard about her accusation, 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.479 he told his attorney, I don't know what this is about. 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:54.480 What could this be. In October twenty seventeen, Ornte Langer, 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:58.879 a former child model who appeared in Polanski's film titled What, 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.080 that Polanski had raped her when she was fifteen years old. 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.960 She said the alleged assaults occurred in nineteen seventy two 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.480 during auditions for the film at Polanski's home in Gestad, 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.680 and later while the movie was being filmed in Rome. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.959 Variety reported in December twenty seventeen. On another alleged assault 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.880 that occurred in nineteen seventy five, California artist Marion Barnard 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.639 claimed that Polanski assaulted her during a photoshoot at will 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.720 Rogers State Beach when she was just ten years old. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:34.520 She claimed that she was posing nude on a fur 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:38.560 coat for Polanski when he molested her. Through his attorney, 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.360 Polanski said he did not know Maryanne Barnard. In November 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.760 twenty nineteen, Variety reported that the French newspaper Le Parisienne 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:52.320 was investigating acclaim by photographer Valentine Monier that Polanski raped 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.880 her in Geshtad, Switzerland, when she was eighteen. 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.560 It seems like these cases have sort of all but 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.879 gone dark, but there has been movement on some recently. 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:03.879 Yes, there has, but it hasn't really made news. In 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:08.560 September twenty twenty two, Charlotte Lewis sued Polanski for defamation. 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:12.640 She claimed that he defamed her by calling her accusations 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.720 and odious lie. Unless there's a settlement, the case will 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:20.800 be tried in twenty twenty four. In November twenty twenty three, 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:25.480 Polanski's lawyers responded to a lawsuit from Robin M claiming 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.520 the suit violated the Statute of limitations. It's unclear what 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.560 the status of this case is at the moment. Cases 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.520 related to the accusations by Renate Langer and Marianne Barnard 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:41.720 were dismissed because they violated the statute of limitations. Valentine 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.840 Monier did not file a complaint based on her allegations 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.560 that Polanski raped her when she was eighteen. 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.119 But it was Samantha Gaily who settled with Polanski for 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:53.080 upwards of six hundred thousand dollars and under her married name. 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:55.400 Samantha Geimer wrote a book a few years ago about 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:56.040 the whole ordeal. 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.439 Yes and it was titled The Girl Life in the 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.760 Shadows of Roman Polanski and was published in twenty thirteen, 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.800 when she was forty nine years old. After living with 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.760 the scandal for thirty six years, she re emerged in 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:12.440 public to publicize the book. In an interview with NPR, 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:16.560 she described the lifelong ramifications of the sexual assault. It 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.240 affected me dramatically, probably changed who I am as a person, 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.960 changed the way my life went. But since it happened, 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.720 it's hard to judge what might have been different if 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.560 it didn't happen. But I was angry my poor mother, 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.640 who felt horrible and guilty. She also said she received 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.960 a letter from Polanski in two thousand and nine. It read, 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:40.840 in part, I want you to know how sorry I 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.399 am for having so affected your life. The fault was mine, 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.119 not your mother's. I hope the pressure of the media 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:51.320 has alleviated and that your family brings you much happiness. 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.879 She said she was surprised to receive the note. She 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:57.840 didn't need an apology, but it alleviated some of the 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.080 pain and anger that her mother, her husband, and their 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:05.159 family had been feeling. Samantha also summed up where she 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:09.000 landed emotionally. After decades at the center of the media frenzy, 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:11.879 Polanski and I have both been on the wrong end 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.639 of the law, the publicity people's comments toward both of 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.440 us that are just nasty and horrible. So we end 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.639 up having a lot in common, which is strange, but 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:25.680 that's true. That's how this has worked out. 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:28.680 In the seven years since the Me Too movement began, 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:31.919 many of the celebrities who'd advocated dropping the charges against 0:23:31.880 --> 0:23:34.160 Polanski have had a chance to rethink their support. 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:38.000 Yes and one famous director who walked back his support 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:41.359 was Quentin Tarantino. On the Howard Stern radio show in 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:44.600 two thousand and three, he said Polanski didn't rape a 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:48.200 thirteen year old, it was statutory rape. That's not quite 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:51.000 the same thing. He had sex with a minor, all right, 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:54.920 that's not rape to me. When you use the word rape, 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:59.240 you're talking about violent, throwing them down. In twenty eighteen, 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:03.520 in a statement released to Indie Wire, Tarantino apologized to 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:08.440