In the days since filmmaker Roman Polanski's arrest in Switzerland in connection with his 1977 conviction of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles, California, the blogosphere has been electrified with debate about the 76-year-old director's fate. On the one hand, over 100 filmmakers have signed a petition calling for Polanski's release, while Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times documents the sturm und drang from the conservative front, as well as from normally liberal outlets such as The Huffington Post. SpoutBlog's Christopher Campbell rounds up a wide range of opinions from the film world, including The Hot Blog's David Poland, who, in three posts, argues for Polanski's extradition.
And why the arrest now? Stephen Shaefer of the Boston Herald speculates that it was partly due to Marina's Zenovich's Emmy Award-winning Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired , in which former prosecutor David Wells admits on camera to coaching Judge Laurence Rittenbrand about sentencing guidelines, which compelled Polanski's legal team to file a motion to dismiss the case.
But not so fast: Wells yesterday admitted to The Daily Beast's Marcia Clark (the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial) that he had lied in the documentary: "I lied. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did. The director of the documentary told me it would never air in the States. I thought it made a better story if I said I'd told the judge what to do." Ouch.
Curiouser and curiouser...The New York Post reports that filmmaker Brett Ratner (Rush Hour; The X-Men: The Last Stand) would be producing a sequel to Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, which EW.com reports that Zenovich will be directing.
Tune in on Friday, when we report from the screening and Q&A at UCLA-which should be the biggest happening in Westwood since Michael Jackson's death . In the meantime, for a Documentary magazine article on the film, click here.