Roman Polanski is Still a Hot Topic

By Katey Rich

Even with Werner Herzog on the scene with a new movie, the documentary making the most waves at the moment isn't even screening in theatres yet. Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Marina Zenovich's documentary about the director's 1978 trial, is airing on HBO in advance of a limited July run in theatres. The documentary, well-reviewed and a hit on the pay cable channel, has run into controversy not only because of its topic, but its claims about the Polanski trial.

Anne Thompson sums up the complicated story in her Variety blog. Zenovich's documentary originally ended with a card that claimed that in 1997, the new Los Angeles judge assigned to the case insisted upon having television coverage were Polanski to return to California and stand trial. (Polanski fled America in 1978, and thanks to his French citizenship, has been allowed to stay in the country as a fugitive from United States law.) The L.A. judge argued that he demanded no such thing, while Polanski's lawyer at the time and a district attorney have co-signed a statement insisting that TV coverage was the sticking point. Zenovich has changed the card several times, and it currently makes a generic statement about the judge's desire for an on-the-record trial.

The interesting thing about all this controversy isn't so much the he-said-she-said debate about a fairly minor aspect of the trial, but the fact that this controversy is happening at all. Zenovich's documentary, which I will see in July, apparently throws a whole new light on a story many of us thought we already knew. But the fact that there's still debate over the very events of the trial, and not just the blame, is fascinating. How has Polanski remained hidden in plain sight all these years, winning Oscars and other accolades but leaving this one section of his life a big, shadowy mystery that everyone knows about? I'm not even interested in righteous outrage over what he did or did not do, but just stepping back and marveling at how he's remained beloved, wanted and desired while, for all intents and purposes, being a convicted rapist.

Controversy doesn't always guarantee a movie's success-- Brian De Palma was the latest director to prove that when his Redacted fizzled even after he got into a public battle with his distributor. But Zenovich's documentary will benefit from the same indulgent Hollywood insider status Polanski did-- when you've got the backing of the people who matter, controversy can only be a good thing. Wanted and Desired will almost definitely hang on to be a contender come Oscar season. That's the kind of good publicity that only bad publicity can buy.