The Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man on Monday after rejecting a U.S. request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. The Swiss mostly blamed U.S. authorities for failing to provide confidential testimony about Polanski's sentencing procedure in 1977-1978.I've got a brilliant idea. Clearly the Swiss love their child molesters. Well coincidentally, here in America, we have tons of child molesters in prison. See where I'm going with this? Why don't we ship our most depraved child molesters over there? We'd be happy because we'd be saving the millions of tax dollars it takes to incarcerate those perverts. And Switzerland would be happy because they'd have millions of men walking the streets who love to fuck kids. This is really a win-win situation for everyone involved. I wouldn't be surprised if Obama sets this plan in motion later today.
The stunning decision could end the United States' three-decade pursuit of Polanski, unless he travels to another country that would be willing to apprehend him and weigh sending him to Los Angeles. France, where he has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens, and the public scrutiny over Switzerland's deliberations may dissuade other nations from making such a spectacular arrest.
"Mr. Polanski can now move freely. Since 12:30 today he's a free man," Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf declared.
Authorities in Los Angeles and Washington cannot appeal the Swiss decision. Sandy Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, declined to comment.
Woody Allen has restated his support for fellow filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is in house arrest in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal. Allen said Polanski "was embarrassed by the whole thing," "has suffered" and "has paid his dues." He said Polanski is "an artist and is a nice person" who "did something wrong and he paid for it."Are we supposed to be surprised that one perverted filmmaker supports the actions of another perverted filmmaker? These two defending each other is natural . . . or as natural as it can be when one sodomizes a 13-year-old girl rendered unconscious by sedatives and the other ends up marrying the adopted child of his ex-girlfriend that he helped raise. Aristocrats!
It was not clear whether Allen was aware of the new allegations when he made the remarks in an interview Saturday with France Info radio from the Cannes Film Festival. Allen had previously signed a petition calling for Polanski's release.
Allen's relationship with actress Mia Farrow ended in scandal and New York tabloid headlines in 1992, when she found out he was having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, then 22. Allen married Previn in 1997.
Michael Douglas says he will not sign a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal.Obviously Michael's choice not to support Roman is because the filmmaker did some despicable things to an unconscious teenager . . . and not the fact that he has a big-budget movie coming out in a couple of weeks. Frankly, after marrying someone 25-years his junior, it's surprising that Michael wasn't the first in line to come to Roman's defense. Look, I'm not saying that he supports rape -- I'm just saying that, you know, "NO" doesn't always mean "NO." It's all in the tone.
Douglas, whose "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is screening at the nCannes Film Festival, told French radio it would be "unfair" for him to sign a petition for "somebody who did break the law."
Other filmmakers at the festival, including French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard and actor-director Mathieu Amalric, have signed the petition, which is posted on a Web site overseen by renowned French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
In the interview with RTL radio broadcast on Friday, Douglas said Polanski had been given "some bad advice" when the scandal broke.
In an astonishing act of backroom international diplomacy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy hand-delivered a letter from fugitive Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski to President Barack Obama last week on the sidelines of the international anti-nuke proliferation summit in Washington, according to a small and little-noticed article embedded in the prestigious French political magazine, L’Express.Is this a joke? Roman needs to pay for the unspeakable crime he's committed -- by continuing to live in his palatial estate where he is waited on hand and foot by his staff of Swiss manservants. If France's president actually thinks that the U.S. is going to let a guy go free after he's perpetrated unthinkable atrocities just because he's a celebrity in the film industry . . . then he knows our legal system better than I thought.
It is unclear what Polanski or President Sarkozy, for that matter, think that Obama might be able or willing to do for a man who has acknowledged giving a Quaalude and champagne to a 13-year-old girl he then sodomized.
Talk about dropping a stink bomb. The Polanski letter, which is not directly quoted in L’Express’ article, is said to suggest that the two months the aging director spent in a Swiss prison—in addition to the 47 days that he spent in detention in California in 1977—should suffice for the crime of unlawful sexual intercourse he pled guilty to. (Polanski is now under house arrest at his chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland while authorities seek his extradition to the United States.)
Roman Polanski's wife said her husband's imprisonment in a 32-year-old sexual abuse case has diminished her carefree spirit and terrified and disoriented the couple's two children.Oh no, Emmanuelle's carefree spirit was diminished? I, I, I didn't realize she was being put through such hell. I take everything back I ever said about Roman! Hey, you know what also diminishes a carefree spirit? GETTING RAPED IN THE ASS BEFORE YOUR 14TH BIRTHDAY.
But Emmanuelle Seigner, 43, also said in an interview with the Polish magazine Viva! that she's convinced "the matter will be solved."
"I am no longer such a carefree person, I am no longer the same Emmanuelle," Seigner said.
Seigner said that she and the children do not live with Polanski in Gstaad but visit as often as they can.
However, [Depp] wasn't shy in voicing his dismay about the arrest of film-maker Roman Polanski on a 30-year-old statutory rape charge. In 1999, Polanski directed him in The Ninth Gate.In the interview, Depp also voiced his support for 55-year-old Daniel Clive Lyttle of Bradenton, Florida. In 1977, Lyttle was sentenced to life in prison for raping a 15-year-old Manatee High School student as she walked home from a football game. Oh wait a minute, that's right, Johnny didn't actually say anything about Daniel. Because he doesn't direct films.
"Why now?" Depp asked rhetorically. "Obviously, there is something going on somewhere. Somebody has made a deal with someone. Maybe there was a little money involved, but why now?" Polanski, Depp continued, "is not a predator. He's 75 or 76 years old. He has got two beautiful kids, he has got a wife that he has been with for a long, long time. He is not out on the street."
Film director Roman Polanski lost his bid to be sentenced without returning to the U.S. when a judge ruled the director must be present in court if he wants to resolve his 32-year-old sex case. Reiterating Polanski was a fugitive from justice, Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza said he was acting to protect "the dignity of the court."What a jerk this Judge Espinoza guy is. Doesn't he know that Roman directed Chinatown? For Christ's sake, it got an 8.5 on IMDB. It has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. If that doesn't give you the right to stick your dick up a 13-year-old's ass while she pleads for you to stop, I just don't know what does.
Bart Dalton, a lawyer for Polanski, said the ruling would be appealed.
Before the hearing, the judge provided lawyers with his 11-page tentative decision denying the request by the 76-year-old Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
Lawyers Chad Hummel, who represents Polanski, and Lawrence Silver, who represents victim Samantha Geimer, tried to convince Espinoza to change his mind.
The terms of the settlement were confidential, but the amount was disclosed in court documents because of a two-year struggle to get Polanski to pay. Court records, which were provided to media outlets Friday, do not indicate if Polanski ever paid. The last court filing in August 1996 shows Polanski, now 76, owed Geimer $604,416.22, including interest.I hate to play devil's advocate here, but in Roman's defense, before he stuck his dick up Samantha's ass to her repeated pleas of "no, no, no," she lied and told him she was actually 13-and-a-half. How come all these people so quick to cast guilt never talk about that little fact?
In a December 1995 filing, [Geimer's attorney Lawrence] Silver said "defendant has failed to pay any part of the sum due or the interest due on the attached note." Silver added that he talked to [Polanski's attorney David] Finkle, who agreed Polanski was in default.
Silver then sought some of Polanski's earnings by canvassing Hollywood for his wages. Among those who were contacted about Polanski were the Directors Guild of America, International Creative Management, Warner Bros. Inc. and Sony Studios.
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