Latest Polanski Ruling and Details on Next Film

Published by Jeff Leins on: January 22nd, 2010

A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Roman Polanski must return to the United States for sentencing.

Polanski’s squadron of attorneys had argued their client should be sentenced in absentia and the penalty be reduced to time already served.  Polanski spent 42 days in a psychological testing facility in 1977 and 69 days in jail last year.  He is currently under house arrest in his ski resort chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland after forking over $4.5 million in bail money.

Prosecutors are demanding Polanski return to Los Angeles for proper sentencing while his defense readies an appeal of the decision, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The ruling comes nearly four months after the 76-year-old filmmaker was arrested in Switzerland 31 years after pleading guilty to “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.” Polanski was originally taken into custody for drugging and raping 13-year-old model Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson’s Mulholland area home.  His six felony counts were reduced to one, but after spending little over a month in the Chino State Prison, Polanski fled to France where he remained a fugitive for over three decades.

Meanwhile, the freedom has allowed the Oscar winner to complete the edit on his film The Ghost Writer, starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrell, and Tom Wilkinson.  Summit Entertainment has picked it up for U.S. distribution and it’s currently scheduled for limited release February 19, 2010.  Anyone else think the timing is suspect?

Polanski seems optimistic about the legal outcome by already planning his next film.  His wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, told the LA Times Polanski is working on a film adaptation of the play “God of Carnage.” The Broadway production won a Tony Award for “Best Play” with a cast that included James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden.

The dark comedy tells the story of two sets of parents meeting to discuss an altercation between their children, but as the night progresses the evening becomes more chaotic.  Topics turn to hot-button issues like homophobia, misogyny, and racial prejudice.  Drugging and raping a kid doesn’t come up, I guess.