A few updates on the ongoing Roman Polanski case today, the filmmaker’s resolve is beginning to weaken it seems.
The NY Times says his demeanor went from combative to depressed and now anxiety ridden. “I can say very clearly that he is confronting reality,” a lawyer said. “He is an old man of 76 with a wife and two children and he wants to resolve this.”
Lawyers for the filmmaker said today that if the Swiss courts allowed him out of prison he would not only agree to house arrest, he would wear an ankle bracelet, post his property and a substantial amount of money as bail and make a daily visit to police officials.
According to court documents released on Friday, his lawyers also apparently met with U.S. Department of Justice officials to make their case against extraditing the 76-year-old fugitive.
Making matters worse, the L.A. D.A.’s office, further evincing their hardball stance, says Polanski’s appeal filed in California before his arrest to have this original case dismissed, is now moot, and should be dismissed. They also contend that all oral arguments should be held.
In slightly better news for the filmmaker, according to the London Times, he is apparently finishing his political thriller, “The Ghost,” which stars Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, from prison.
Robert Harris, who wrote the screenplay for the film, said that the director is making decisions about The Ghost so that it will be ready for its scheduled premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Polanski recently gave instructions about the film score to Alexandre Desplat, the composer best known for writing music for The Queen and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
“He can make his wishes known from his cell. I don’t think he can make phone calls, but he can communicate. What people think of the film is another matter. Whether the film can rise above the circumstances in which the director now finds himself I don’t know. We will test to the upper limits the notion that there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” Harris said.