There is no hazy mystery about Roman Polanski‘s past: the director pleaded guilty in 1977 to sexually assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey (now Geimer). Nevertheless, his career continued to flourish in the decades that followed, and Hollywood producers and stars didn’t hesitate to work with the director, who won the Oscar for Best Director in 2002 for “The Pianist.” However, what makes Quentin Tarantino‘s recently unearthed comments from 2003 different from others who have justified working with the Polanski, is his galling misunderstanding of the basic facts, and blaming the victim for what transpired.
“He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape…he had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violent, throwing them down—it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world. You can’t throw the word rape around. It’s like throwing the word ‘racist’ around. It doesn’t apply to everything people use it for,” the director said on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2003.
“She wanted to have it….she was down with this,” he added.
Now, Samantha Geimer, the victim of Polanski’s assault, has responded to Tarantino’s comments. She states plainly that Tarantino is “wrong,” and hopes that his thinking has evolved in the years since that interview.
“I hope he doesn’t make an a– of himself and keep talking that way,” she told New York Daily News. “I’m not upset, but I would probably feel better if he realizes now that he was wrong, after 15 years, after hearing the facts.”
Tarantino has to comment on what he declared, with some enthusiasm and certainty, over fourteen years ago. The director’s next film, which features Polanski as a character in the story, opens on August 9, 2019.