DIRECTOR · BORN 1933
Roman Polanski
- Born
- 18 August 1933, Paris, France
- Known for
- The Pianist (2002), Le Locataire (1976), Dance of the Vampires (1967), Nóz w wodzie (1962)
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Roman Polanski (born 18 August 1933) is a director best known for The Pianist, Le Locataire and Dance of the Vampires.
Roman Polanski over the years
32 Interesting Facts About Roman Polanski
Interesting Facts (9)
- #001
Convicted of sodomy and statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl after plea bargaining, Polanski served time in prison in California, but prison officials released him sooner than judge Laurence J. Rittenband's original sentence had intended. The judge then sought to have Polanski brought to court again for further sentencing. Rather than do so, Polanski fled to Europe to avoid and escape a second arrest and incarceration. In 2013, his former victim, Samantha Geimer - who was 50 years old and had long ago forgiven him for the crime - detailed her story in her autobiography "The Girl" (2013).
- #002
In 1969, while Polanski was out of town on business, his wife, actress Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered by members of Charles Manson's cult family, though Manson only ordered the killing and was not present during the murders. Tate was eight months pregnant with Polanski's first child at the time. Polanski has said that his life's biggest regret was not being present at the house the night his wife and four others were murdered.
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In 1984, he published his autobiography, "Roman by Polanski". In it, he teasingly referred to girls as being "sexy, pert, and thoroughly human" and to appreciating Gstaad, Switzerland, on the grounds that the city is populated with "hundreds of fresh-faced, nubile young girls of all nationalities".
- #008
- #009
In 1984, Polanski published his autobiography, 'Roman by Polanski,' in which he described girls as 'sexy, lively and completely human' and praised Gstaad, Switzerland, for being 'full of hundreds of fresh-faced young girls of every nationality,' remarks that drew criticism of his attitude toward women.
Production Story (7)
- #010
Polanski was set to direct "The Double," a modern comic take on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel about a man whose life is taken over by his doppelganger, starring John Travolta, on a $17 million fee, with Isabelle Adjani, John Goodman and Jean Reno. Shooting was due to start in Paris in June 1996, with Lili Fini Zanuck and Todd Black producing, a script by Jeremy Leven, and cinematographer Robert Richardson and production designer Pierre Guffroy in place. Just nine days before filming, with around $15 million already spent, Travolta flew home after an argument with Polanski, claiming the shooting script had been substantially changed from the one he'd read. Steve Martin was quickly hired to replace him, but Isabelle Adjani said she'd only work with Travolta and left too, and the project collapsed soon after.
- #011
When Sharon Tate was murdered, Polanski was in London scouting locations for The Day of the Dolphin, based on Robert Merle's novel "Un animal doué de raison," eventually directed by Mike Nichols as The Day of the Dolphin (1973). At the time of his 1977 arrest for unlawful sex with a minor, he was adapting Lawrence Sanders's novel The First Deadly Sin for Columbia Pictures, which fired him shortly afterwards; it was later made as The First Deadly Sin (1980). In May 1977, Dino De Laurentiis offered him a remake of John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), and he flew straight to Bora Bora to scout locations, working on it through the rest of 1977 between court appearances and the ongoing investigation. On 20 January 1978 he was fired over concerns about his "future availability," and on 1 February 1978 he left the US, never to return. The film was made as Hurricane (1979); while Polanski was attached, Nastassja Kinski had been cast in the role that eventually went to Mia Farrow.
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- #013
In November 1989, Warner Bros. approached Polanski to adapt and direct Mikhail A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita," but the studio dropped the project over budget concerns and a belief that the fall of the Berlin Wall had made the subject outdated. Polanski calls it the best script he's ever adapted.
- #014
- #015
In February 2007 it was announced that Polanski would direct a $130m adaptation of Robert Harris' novel "Pompeii", first published in 2003. Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson were rumoured to be starring, but in September 2007 he left the project due to concerns over the threatened Screen Actors Guild strike.
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Easter Eggs & References (1)
Career & Awards (8)
- #018
In 2017, Polanski was named president of the César Awards, with the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma announcing: "Artist, film-maker, producer, screenwriter, actor, director - there are many words to define Roman Polanski. But there is only one to express our admiration and enchantment: Thank you, Mr President." Laurence Rossignol, the French minister for families, children and women's rights, called the choice "shocking and surprising," according to the New York Times, and a protest petition over the rape charges he still faced in the United States drew more than 61,000 signatures, until Polanski withdrew. "In order not to disturb the César ceremony, which should be centered on cinema and not on its choice of host, Roman Polanski has decided not to accept the invitation," Hervé Temime said in a statement to the media.
- #019
On October 30, 2017, Polanski was guest of honor at La Cinémathèque Francaise, Paris's prestigious film museum, launching a month-long retrospective of his work with his latest film, Based on a True Story (2017). About 40 protesters tried to disrupt the event, among them two women with "Very Important Pedocriminal" painted on their upper bodies who shouted "No honours for rapists" at the 84-year-old director; the group had organized a petition of more than 27,000 signatures demanding the retrospective be canceled. The partly state-funded Cinémathèque refused, its president, director Costa-Gavras, saying it did not intend to "take the place of the justice system."
- #020
He received his Best Director Oscar for The Pianist (2002) almost six months after the ceremony, since he would have been arrested on the outstanding warrants from his flight from the US after his 1978 statutory rape conviction; his friend Harrison Ford flew to France to present it to him at the 29th American Film Festival of Deauville on September 11, 2003.
- #021
When he fled the U.S. in the late '70s, much was made of the fact that he could never make films there again, yet he'd only shot two films in North America before his arrest, Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974); all his other English-language films before the arrest were shot in the UK, and everything since in Central Europe.
- #022
Polanski was due to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 67th Locarno Film Festival in 2014 but withdrew after Swiss politicians and newspapers called him a paedophile. Switzerland's Christian Democratic party urged its members to stay away from the ceremony, and Ticino politician Fiorenzo Dadò described him on Facebook as a "pedophile who drugged and raped a girl and is now being received with full honours." The organizers called the protests "unacceptable interference of some in the artistic liberty of the festival," adding: "We are greatly saddened that the public will thereby be deprived of an important opportunity for cultural enrichment." Artistic director Carlo Chatrian told the Hollywood Reporter: "It's sad when an artist cannot express himself. I understand his decision and I respect it. At the same time, I hope that this will be for the festival a chance to renew the fact that festivals are a meeting point and a place of freedom." He added: "Of course, when you use words like pedophile, you cannot say anything against that. But Polanski's not a pedophile."
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Life & Family (7)
- #026
On 26 September 2009, Swiss police detained Polanski at Zurich Airport as he tried to enter Switzerland, only 1 year and 7 months after Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) premiered at Sundance (Jan. 18, 2008). There's reason to believe the documentary prompted the new arrest warrant, since it questioned the legality of his L.A. trial in 1977 and 1978, before he fled to France on 1st February 1978; Polanski and his lawyers also tried to use its new evidence to attack the L.A. justice system, which may well have revived interest in the old case.
- #027
He sued Vanity Fair over a 2002 article claiming he seduced a woman at NYC restaurant Elaine's on his way to Sharon Tate's funeral. Mia Farrow testified for him at London's High Court that he couldn't focus on anything but his wife's murder, and the jury found in his favor, ordering the magazine to pay $87,700 in damages and a large part of his legal costs.
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