A shocking and bizarre bombshell landed in the Roman Polanski case yesterday.
Former prosecutor David Wells who essentially caught the Roman Polanski case back in 1977 — but was taken off the case early on because he conducted some of the initial interviews with family and victim and would have had to testify which isn’t allowed — recanted his key story.
In the Marina Zenovich documentary, “Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired,” Wells admitted on camera that he influenced the Judge and gave him reason (and photos) to renege on his plea bargain deal and send Polanski to jail. Yesterday, he turned around and said he lied to the filmmaker.
It’s huge blow to Polansky and his attorneys because the request to revisit or dismiss the case was based on Wells and Judge Laurence J. Rittenband’s prosecutorial improprieties. Any testimonial he would give would be key evidence to support this claim.
Now Zenovich has responded with her own statement (via Jeff Wells) and she seems to be in complete disbelief of Wells new claim and finds the timing rather convenient. She also disproves Wells suspicious claim that part of the reason he lied is because he thought the film would never be aired in the U.S.
“I am perplexed by the timing of David Wells’ statement to the press that he lied in his interview with me for the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. Since June of 2008, the film has been quite visible on U.S. television via HBO, in theaters and on DVD, so it is odd that David Wells has not brought this issue to my attention before.
For the record, on the day I filmed Mr. Wells at the Malibu Courthouse, February 11, 2005, he gave me a one-hour interview. He signed a release like all my other interviewees, giving me permission to use his interview in the documentary worldwide. At no time did I tell him that the film would not air in the United States.
Mr. Wells was always friendly and open with me. At no point in the four years since our interview has he ever raised any issues about its content. In fact, in a July 2008 story in The New York Times, Mr. Wells corroborated the account of events that he gave in my film.
I am astonished that he has now changed his story. It is a sad day for documentary filmmakers when something like this happens.”
But Zenovich is incorrect in her statement. In July 2008 Wells actually denied any wrongdoing. His quotes from that story are “I didn’t tell him to do it or that he should do it,” he said. “I just told him what his options were” (though perhaps him admitting he spoke to the judge about his options is impropriety enough).
Meanwhile, according to French Premiere magazine (via /Film) “Jerome Seydoux, co-chairman of Pathe and Gaumont cinemas confirmed at the exhibitor’s conference in Deauville that ‘The Ghost’ (a political thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan) will reach French screens in March 2010. If the director is still detained until that time it seems like other members of his sound and music for his film.”
This sounds shocking and cold, but the reality is a lot of filmmakers let their team, editors and sound designers do the heavy lifting for them. This is how some filmmakers like Soderbergh or Robert Rodriguez can shoot so many films and juggle so many projects at once. They’re not doing every little bit of the heavy lifting and we do feel a little silly reporting the “delays” on “The Ghost” without providing that sort of skeptical context, but well, there it is.
Sure, if he was jailed the entire time and didn’t get to supervise the sound or score at all, that would be big, but we’ll see how that all plays out and won’t rush to alarm just yet. If Wes Anderson can direct a film via email and video conference there’s really no reason why Polanski couldn’t arguably supervise or provide direction from inside the pokey.