Polanski lashes out

Famed director Roman Polanski (Chinatown, The Pianist) caused a stir a day and a half or two days ago at the press conference for Chacun son Cinema, the anthology film comprised of 35 shorts by 35 distinguished directors.
The questions were on the banal side (which is not an altogether uncommon thing during this festival), and Polanski, irked by some especially lame inquiry, lost his temper and lashed out at either the questioner or, according to one version I heard, all the journalists in the room, calling them “losers” and whatnot. He then allegedly urged his fellow directors to leave the dais in a show of solidarity, which they declined to do.
Cut to this morning at the Grand Palais. Just prior to the showing of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Polanski’s short, “Cinema Erotique,” was shown, and a pair of journalists to my right and left — older guys — booed when his name came on the screen. I’m on Mr. Polanski’s side in this squabble. I’ve listened to hundreds upon hundreds of deadbeat questions at round tables and press conferences; I’m surprised that dierctors and celebrities don’t lash out more.

19 thoughts on “Polanski lashes out

  1. A friend of mine had dinner with Polanski a year or two ago and said the conversation went straight into all the things you wouldn’t dare ask… but no doubt everyone did anyway, so apparently Polanski doesn’t even try to avoid the topics any more.

  2. DZ: You’re just trying to eliminate any doubt that you’re an asshole, right? I’d like to see your reaction to some dick asking about the murder of your loved ones as well.

  3. A friend of mine had dinner with Polanski a year or two ago and said the conversation went straight into all the things you wouldn’t dare ask… but no doubt everyone did anyway, so apparently Polanski doesn’t even try to avoid the topics any more.

  4. Yeah, Jeff, where’s the horrified reaction to Polanski appearing in Rush Hour 3?
    He can take advantage of a 12-year-old, and to Jeff it’s water under the bridge. But appear in a Brett Ratner movie? To paraphrase Don Vito, “that, I do not forgive.”

  5. I think that if you’re still avoiding prison time for your rape charges, that should kind of nullify any expectation of being treated decently in public.

  6. Don’t change the subject.
    “…using the victims of the Holocaust to excuse his child-rape…”
    He has never done this. If you can find a quote from Polanski saying “I think this movie I made really should get everyone to stop bugging me about that thing that happened…” then you would have a point. But he didn’t so you’re just a hateful asshole.

  7. DZ: Stop dodging the issue every time someone comes up with an argument you can’t get around, you asshole.

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