| | |  Entertainment | September 2009 
Prison For Polanski?
 AskMen.com
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September 29, 2009
What's worse than arriving at an airport and having to pass all the happy families with balloons and "Welcome Home, Jim!" signs on your way to the lonely taxi stand? How about getting off an airplane on your way to receive a lifetime achievement award and winding up possibly spending the rest of your lifetime in prison instead?
76-year-old director Roman Polanski (Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist) - who fled the USA in 1978 for France after being convicted of unlawful sex with a minor - was finally arrested by Swiss police in Zurich on Saturday night, on his way to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. It might be 22 years after the fact, but the USA hasn't forgotten.
In case your memory needs a little refreshing, Roman pleaded guilty in 1977 to charges of having sex with a minor, 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. Polanski and Gailey met when she was trying to fast-track a movie star career in Hollywood, and the director agreed to take photos of the aspiring movie star for a European magazine. Sex ensued, and despite Polanski claiming that he thought Gailey was older and the press presenting Gailey as a Lolita figure, it didn't change the fact that Gailey was 13 at the time. Polanski's been a wanted man in the USA ever since, despite winning the Oscar for Best Director for The Pianist for which he got a standing ovation, despite his notable absence from the Academy Awards in 2003.
Hollywood, of course, is now rallying in support of Polanski, in hopes of getting him off the hook (Gailey herself asked for the charges to be dropped years ago after suing Polanski and reaching a settlement).
Harvey Weinstein is one of the biggest names backing Polanski. "We're calling on every filmmaker we can to help fix this terrible situation," said Weinstein.
Monica Bellucci is also one of the famous faces who has already signed a petition asking authorities to let Polanski off the hook. |
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