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Roman Polanski drops out of French awards ceremony Roman Polanski drops out of French awards ceremony
(35 minutes later)
Roman Polanski will not preside over next month’s César awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars, his lawyer has said, after women’s groups called for a boycott over his involvement. Roman Polanski has stepped down from presiding over next month’s César awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, after his nomination to the prestigious role sparked outrage, a 61,000-signature petition and calls to boycott the event.
The veteran film director, who has won four best director Césars for films including Tess, The Pianist and The Ghost Writer, is wanted in the US on charges of raping a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977. The Franco-Polish film director, 83, is wanted in the US on charges of raping a a 13-year-old in Los Angeles in 1977.
The “controversy … deeply saddened Roman Polanski and affected his family,” his lawyer, Herve Temime, said in a statement. On Tuesday, his lawyer told Agence France-Presse he would not preside over the Césars because of the “unjustified” row his role had caused.
“However, in order not to disturb the Césars ceremonies, which should focus on the cinema and not on the appointment of the [event’s] president, Roman Polanski has decided not accept the invitation … and will not preside over the next Césars ceremonies,” he said. Hervé Temime said the controversy had “profoundly saddened” the director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby. “However, in order not to disturb the César ceremony, which should focus on the cinema and not on the appointment of the president, Roman Polanski has decided not to accept the invitation.”
The furore was “stoked by completely false information,” Termime said. Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, or statutory rape, and as part of the plea bargain underwent psychiatric evaluation and served 42 days in prison. But in 1978 he became convinced a judge was going to quash the deal and hand him a hefty prison sentence, and fled to France.
He added that Polanski had attended many festivals and ceremonies, and had received top awards, and there had been no criticism of his attendance. Last month, Polanski defeated an attempt by the US to extradite him from his native Poland, telling reporters: “I’ll finally be able to feel safe in my own country.”
Polanski, 83, last month defeated a bid by the US to extradite him from his native Poland, telling reporters: “I’ll finally be able to feel safe in my own country.” French actor and director Gilles Lellouche told Le Parisien the scandal over the Césars was “absurd”.
But the decision by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques to honour him at the Césars infuriated women’s groups. “In France we create rows about everything and it’s killing us. I believe we should be logical,” he said. “Polanski has lived in France for 40 years. The accusations against him predate his arrival. During those years he has made films! It was back then he should have been banned from living or working here.”
Osez le feminisme (Dare feminism) called the decision “shameful”, and urged people to protest outside. Another French actor, François Berléand, agreed: “I’m not defending what Polanski did 40 years ago, but he’s a man I profoundly respect and he has his role to play in the Césars.”
A petition calling for him to be removed as president had attracted more than 42,000 signatures by Friday. Feminist group Osez Le Féminisme (Dare to be Feminist) had called for a demonstration outside the Césars ceremony, organised by the Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, on Saturday evening.
France’s minister for women’s rights, Laurence Rossignol, joined the debate, saying she found it “surprising and shocking that a rape case counts for so little in the life of a man”. A petition claimed Polanski had enjoyed “scandalous protection” in France while being wanted for the rape of achild in America. His nomination as César president was, it said, “an insult to women and to the suffering they endure, an insult to rape victims … tens of thousands of them every year”.
She said the choice of Polanski showed “an indifference with regard to the acts of which he is accused” and “a sort of banalisation of rape”. Temime said the row had been “stoked by completely false information”. He added that the rape victim had appealed to the American authorities to drop the case.
The French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques praised Polanski as an “insatiable aesthete” and former French culture minister Aurélie Filippetti defended him as a “great director … who should be allowed to preside over the ceremony”. France’s women’s rights minister, Laurence Rossignol, said she had been shocked by the decision to nominate Polanski.
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, or statutory rape. The director, who was 43 at the time, was accused of drugging the girl before raping her during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. “I’m surprised and shocked that a rape case in a man’s life counts for so little,” she told French radio. “It’s a choice that shows an indifference to the charges against him on the part of those who decided to nominate him as president of the Césars.
As part of a plea bargain, Polanski underwent psychiatric evaluation and served 42 days in prison. But in 1978 he became convinced a judge was going to quash the deal and hand him a hefty prison sentence, and fled to France where he now lives. “It’s saying it’s not a big deal for the organisers, that Roman Polanski is wanted in the United States for having committed the rape … of a child of 13 years.”
The nomination showed an “attitude of normality with regard to rape … what feminists call the rape culture in which we are existing”, Rossignol said.
The culture minister, Audrey Azoulay, has refused to comment on the row.