My Polanski rant

My Polanski Rant

So I've been trying to write a well thought out post on this, balancing both my own personal and political beliefs and my interests as a filmmaker. And you know what? Fuck it.

I'm really getting sick of some of my favorite directors and Hollywood folks rallying around Roman Polanski. In case you missed it, the Rosemary's Baby director drugged and raped a 13 year old girl in the 70s and escape to France to avoid incarceration. Recently he was apprehended in Sweden en route to an awards show.

No doubt that horrible things have happened to him in the course of his life, and I can also understand that you can do very fucked up things under the duress of grief. I can also agree that extradition laws can be weasel-y. Still, none of this excuses the fact that he has raped a 13 year old girl after putting Quaaludes in her drink.

Even if it has been decades ago, it still has not been punished. And no, testifying in court and leaving a country is not punishment, especially when you can still win an Oscar. Seriously, does the fact that you make some amazing movies give you a "get out of jail free" card? I don't think it should. As Chris Rock so eloquently put it a few nights ago on Leno, "Even Johnny Cochran didn't have the nerve to go, 'Well did you see OJ play against New England?"

You know who else was a great artist? Phil Spector. I'd argue that his contributions to pop culture top Polanski's. And yet when he murdered a woman, the Unilateral Celebrity Voice didn't say, "Oh he's old" or "Oh, bad things happened to him in his life" or even "Oh, but he produced 'Be My Baby!" Nope, the majority opinion was "Holy shit, this guy's crazy and look at his hair!"

So what does it take to get a crime recognized? Does someone have to die before a celebrity isn't given a free pass? Fuck me, do people actually think "the 70s were a different time" is an acceptable defense for rape?!

And seriously? For all you film snob types that think his movies are God's gift to cinema, might I suggest Dance of the Vampires? That was more enema than cinema, amirite?