Whose Limbo?

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How exactly is Roman Polanski's The Ghost, a political thriller costarring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan MaGregor, considered to be in limbo now that Polanski is temporarily in a Swiss slammer?

Pierce Brosnan, Ewan MacGregor in Roman Polanski's The Ghost

We're in a down market for smallish character- or plot-driven adult films (and especially ones starring Brosnan and MacGregor), but since Saturday's arrest this film is in great shape...hello? Supermarket moms will want to see this now so they can hiss Polanski's name when it appears on the credits. And with any luck rural retards will be out protesting it with placards when it comes to their plex..."we don't want this film shown in our God-fearing Christian community!," etc. Before Saturday The Ghost was looking like an in-and-outer and maybe even a straight-to-DVD title, but now it's got a fighting chance to actually make some money.

And getting it ready for release will be a snap, even if Polanski gets serious American jail time, which he won't.

Several weeks' worth of extra editing, music scoring and sound mixing may be required before it's ready to play commercially, but Polanski will have some measure of limited freedom once he arrives on U.S. soil. One way or the other he'll be able to do the work soon enough, even if he gives orders from a jail cell about which music clip to use and where exactly to cut, etc. 2009 technology will find a way.

Brosnan plays a former British prime minister and McGregor a ghostwriter hired to help complete his memoirs in this adaptation of the novel by Robert Harris. Pic also features Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams and James Belushi.

And incidentally...

The people who requested the Swiss to detain Polanski -- the U.S. Marshals Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force (representing the Los Angeles D.A.'s office) plus U.S. State and Justice department officials -- are, according to this 9.29 story, so caught up in their bureaucratic rigamarole that "the expected U.S. extradition request" regarding the delivery of Polanski to U.S. soil "has not yet been received by the Swiss."

This is the slow-as-molasses American legal system. Anyone who's ever gotten a ticket from a Highway Patrolman and then waited at least 20 minutes as he sits in his car and slowly fills out the ticket with the squawking radio going the whole time knows the truth of this.

Can you imagine being the guy in charge of flying Polanski back to the U.S. and asking a subordinate, "So the Swiss have our formal extradition request...right?" And being told, "Well, they'll have it before too long." And you saying, "Whaddaya mean, it's not ready? You guys have known we'd be arresting him in Zurich for the last two or three weeks...what have you been doing?" And the subordinate saying, "Well, we were just told there's this extra form that Justice needs, and it requires eight separate signatures and two of them are out sick."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 29, 2009 at 9:21 AM

comment #1

Stringer Bell says ...

Hate to say this, but it sounds like you're hoping he gets light time rather than predicting he doesn't get heavy time.

I'm all for great artists and their work, but to a point. Phil Spector was a genius musically, but he deserves to die in jail. Polanski shouldn't necessarily rot in jail, but he should be punished.

Posted by Stringer Bell at September 29, 2009 11:03 AM

comment #2

hunterd says ...

Did Wells just compare rape to a speeding ticket?

Posted by hunterd at September 29, 2009 11:05 AM

comment #3

Brendan says ...

HE has now officially become All-Roman/All-The-Time.

Posted by Brendan at September 29, 2009 11:12 AM

comment #4

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I can't wait for the South Park episode on all this controversy. They're going to have a field day.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at September 29, 2009 11:19 AM

comment #5

joefilm1 says ...

I hope you mean Far Right retards and not "rural retards"... even Deep South rural retards? Rural includes a whole lot of sensible, cool people in the middle of the country. If you don't mean that, then you are definitely a big city blowhard.

Posted by joefilm1 at September 29, 2009 11:19 AM

comment #6

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

By the way, Jeff, it's incredibly dismissive to describe anyone appalled by Polanski's actions as a "rural retard" or "Supermarket mom," as if you've got to be a small-minded simpleton to take offence to a 44-year old raping a 13-year old girl.

If you read the comments following this moronic article, you'll see the vast majority of supposedly educated, left-leaning Guardian readers are strongly disagreeing with the author of the piece: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/28/roman-polanski-arrest-switzerland

It's not a case of the pro-Polanski brigade being on the right side whatsoever. If anything this embarrassing campaign and the utterly bizarre "rape-rape" stuff from his defenders only goes to show how out of touch Hollywood is with the general public.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at September 29, 2009 11:49 AM

comment #7

Terry McCarty says ...

Going back to the original speculation re THE GHOST: Given the "down market", the film will probably get a small-studio specialty release in theaters at best--whether or not last weekend's arrest of Polanski had happened.

And middle America won't make a beeline for THE GHOST any more than they did for BITTER MOON and THE NINTH GATE.

Posted by Terry McCarty at September 29, 2009 11:54 AM

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

I would love to be on that flight.

you're quite an individual Roman.

Think they'll take zat into consideration?

Posted by BurmaShave at September 29, 2009 11:54 AM

comment #9

Hickenlooper says ...

I couldn't agree with you more, Jeff. It's sad this has happened to Polanksi, our greatest living director. The reality is he will most likely be extradited to the U.S. withing the next three months. Ghost will probably suffer for it. And Polanski will most likely be convicted, not for sexual impropriety against a minor, but rather for fleeing the United States, regardless of the circumstances. Most of my legal friends think he'll end up serving 18 months in a California Minimum Security Prison like Lompaq, sometime starting in late 2010 when he's 78 years old. That's will undoubtedly suck. There's no doubt the L.A. D.A. is determined to get a conviction. They are playing for keeps now or they wouldn't have had the Swiss arrest him.

Posted by Hickenlooper at September 29, 2009 12:09 PM

comment #10

Stringer Bell says ...

Greatest living director? What does this have to do with anything?

Are you the guy Billy Bob screwed (figuratively speaking)? Good. I'm glad.

Posted by Stringer Bell at September 29, 2009 12:31 PM

comment #11

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Joefilm1 and BoshBarnet: I meant that far-right rural retards would picket the film, of course. Not that people who disagree with me about Polanski's situation are retards...please.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at September 29, 2009 2:00 PM

comment #12

Gordon27 says ...

"It's sad this has happened to Polanksi, our greatest living director."

I'm not trying to be snarky, but how can anybody look at this situation and say something happened to Polanski? Polanski has been largely, if not solely, responsible for this mess. He chose to give champagne to an underage girl and then have sex with her (I won't bring up the question of consent). He chose to plead guilty. He chose to flee the country. He chose to avoid any situation in which he might be extradited for 32 years. All of these things happened because of Polanski, not to him.

It's sad that he chose to do these things, though, so if that's what you mean, I agree with you.

"And Polanski will most likely be convicted, not for sexual impropriety against a minor, but rather for fleeing the United States, regardless of the circumstances."

So he'll be convicted of one crime which he definitely, provably committed, but one which is less bad than the one he pled guilty to, which was less bad than the one he almost certainly committed. A fraction of a fraction. That's a pretty good deal, I think.

"Most of my legal friends think he'll end up serving 18 months in a California Minimum Security Prison like Lompaq, sometime starting in late 2010 when he's 78 years old. That's will undoubtedly suck."

He could have come back and served his 18 months at any time in the last 32 years, though. That said, I really don't believe he'll serve any time. Some arrangement will be reached and, unless they find a judge with serious balls, Polanski will walk free with a fine or "time served".

Posted by Gordon27 at September 29, 2009 10:00 PM

comment #13