News, like nature, abhors a vacuum and as the wire goes quiet on Roman Polankski’s incarceration at the hands of the Swiss Authorities, the director’s industry peers have jumped in to offer their own views on his probable extradition to the US in connection to his 1977 conviction for raping Samantha Geimer, then 13.
Whoopi Goldberg astonished Guardian readers on Wednesday when she was quoted making a distinction between “rape-rape”, as in the classic definition most of us are familiar with and rape (formally rape-rape) which she’d confusingly rechristened “something else.”
Showcasing the understanding of legal distinctions for which the Jumpin’ Jack Flash actress is rightly lauded around the world, she told The View chat show on US television:
“I know it wasn’t rape-rape. It was something else but I don’t believe it was rape-rape. He went to jail and when they let him out he was like, ‘You know what, this guy’s going to give me a hundred years in jail. I’m not staying.’ So that’s why he left.”
Not an argument Filmshaft expects to be presented at Polanski’s extradition hearing.
Hollywood veteran Peter Fonda, challenged by a US reporter on whether Polanski should face jail deflected the question by answering a different one, saying “I think Dick Cheney should be put on trail for war crimes.” This tactic, namely attempting to underwrite the importance of Mr Polanski’s conviction by drawing attention to an unconnected and alleged act of criminality that has thus far eluded the judicial process, has even reached British shores.
Appearing on the BBC’s late night political discussion show This Week, UK documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield (Kurt and Courtney) looked uncomfortable as presenter Andrew Neil pressed him on whether US authorities were correct in pushing for extradition. “I think you have to ask why now?” he said, before following Fonda’s lead – referring to a case he’d covered in a recent documentary concerning alleged war crimes perpetrated by US soldiers which have gone unpunished. When Neil attempted to make the distinction between an alleged offense and a criminal conviction, as in the Polanski case, Broomfield looked uncomfortable and noted, somewhat unsatisfactorily for viewers who were interested in his views on the case, that he’d been invited on the programme under the pretext that he would talk about more pressing criminal matters, such as the example he’d given.
The former Conservative MP Michael Portillo, a regular guest on the programme, suggested that the reaction of the Hollywood establishment, including friends of Polanski such as Officer and a Gentleman actress Debra Winger, was all the more unusual was it ran in direct opposition to contemporary attitudes toward pedophilia. “It’s counter-cultural” he suggested.
Those persuaded that Hollywood has insulated itself from public opinion would be dismayed to learn that a petition demanding the immediate release of Polanski has been signed by over 100 industry figures and reads like a roll call of the film world’s biggest talents. Those who’ve signed thus far include Michael Mann, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodovar, Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Demme and Wim Wenders.
The question of “why now?” as offered by Broomfield and the implication that there may be a hidden political justification for the timing of the arrest, was tackled by The Times on September 29th. Zurich correspondent David Carter noted that the US had made numerous attempts to arrest the Director since his flight from justice in 1978.
Noting that US prosecutors had liaised with law enforcement agencies around the world over the last three decades, in an attempt to snare the director, the paper published the following chronology of extradition attempts.
February 1978: the Extradition Services Section opened a file after confirming that Mr Polanski was living in France.
May 1978: a formal extradition package was submitted when it was learnt Polanski may be in England.
December 1986: consultations held with Royal Canadian Mounted Police after being informed the Mr Polanski may be visiting Canada.
May 1988: verified that the arrest warrant was still active after receiving notice Polanski may travel to Germany, Denmark, Sweden or Brazil.
June 1994: submitted a provisional arrest warrant request to France.
October 2005: submitted an Interpol Red Notice to Thailand after learning that Mr Polanski was visiting.
July 10, 2007: Israeli authorities requested extra details when Mr Polanski visited but by the time the information arrived, he had left.
The list shows that far from forgetting about Mr Polanski, just waking up when news of his visit to Zurich reached US authorities, the hunt for him has in fact been ongoing over the last three decades.
You can read the full Times article here.
Check back with Filmshaft next week for further developments in the Polanski story.