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)
30 archived facts 6 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
30 Interesting Facts About Roman Polanski
Interesting Facts (3)
- #001
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel director Roman Polanski from its membership ranks. The decision to remove Polanski was made at a scheduled board meeting on May 1st 2018.
- #002
Is portrayed by Marek Probosz in Helter Skelter (2004).
- #003
Polanski's two most expensive features (adjusted for inflation) were Pirates (1986) and Oliver Twist (2005). Ironically, these films were also his biggest commercial flops and received only mixed reviews.
Production Story (7)
- #004
Polanski was set to direct "The Double", a modern-day, comedic adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel about a man whose life is taken over by a doppelganger. Star John Travolta, who was being paid $17 million, was set to play the lead, alongside Isabelle Adjani, John Goodman, and Jean Reno. The film shoot was set to begin in Paris in June 1996. Lili Fini Zanuck and Todd Black were producing, Jeremy Leven had written the screenplay, and other personnel such as director of photography Robert Richardson and production designer Pierre Guffroy were in place. Just nine days before the beginning of principal photography, and with around $15 million already spent on the project, Travolta flew back to the U.S. following an argument with Polanski. Travolta claimed that the shooting screenplay had been significantly altered from the one he had originally read. Following Travolta's departure, Steve Martin was quickly hired to replace him, but Isabelle Adjani said she was only prepared to work with Travolta, and she, too, left the film. The project collapsed shortly afterwards.
- #005
At the time of Sharon Tate's murder, Polanski was in London scouting locations for The Day of the Dolphin, based on Robert Merle's novel, "Un animal doué de raison". The film was eventually directed by Mike Nichols as The Day of the Dolphin (1973). In 1977, at the time of his arrest for unlawful sex with a minor, he was working on an adaptation for Columbia Pictures of Lawrence Sanders's novel, The First Deadly Sin. Shortly after his arrest, he was fired by Columbia. The film was subsequently made as The First Deadly Sin (1980). In May 1977, Dino De Laurentiis offered him the chance to direct a remake of John Ford's The Hurricane (1937). Polanski set to work on this and immediately flew to Bora Bora to scout locations. He continued working on the project throughout the rest of 1977 in between court appearances and the ongoing judicial investigation. On 20 January 1978 he was fired from the project due to concerns regarding his "future availability". On 1 February 1978 he left US, never to return. The film was subsequently made as Hurricane (1979). While Polanski was attached to direct, Nastassja Kinski was cast in the role eventually played by Mia Farrow.
- #006
According to his autobiography, producer Robert Evans initially wanted Polanski to direct Sliver (1993). But since Polanski could not return to the U.S., Evans planned on having a second unit director shoot some footage in New York, while Polanski would direct the rest of the film in Paris.
- #007
In November 1989, Polanski was approached by Warner Bros. to adapt and direct Mikhail A. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". The project was subsequently dropped by Warners due to budgetary concerns and the studio's belief that the subject matter was no longer relevant due to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Polanski has described his script as the best he has ever adapted.
- #008
Shortly before her murder, wife Sharon Tate gave Polanski a copy of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", and he planned to film it with her. When he finally made the movie Tess (1979), he dedicated it to her.
- #009
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.
- #010
In 1969, he was writing a script for a film about the Donner Party, as well as a biography of Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini, but both projects were abandoned.
Characters & Cast (1)
- #011
Was offered the chance to direct King Kong (1976) but turned it down.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #012
The Jeroen Krabbé character in Snuff-Movie (2005) - a European film director whose pregnant wife was murdered by a hippy cult in the 1960s - appears to have been based on Polanski.
Career & Awards (8)
- #013
Polanski was appointed to serve as the president of the César Awards in 2017, but withdrew from this position after public protests in France. The Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma had selected Polanski to serve in this honorary role and announced: "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 Académie's decision "shocking and surprising," according to the New York Times. The backlash to the decision of the Académie resulted in over 61,000 signatures on a protest petition, because of the rape charges Polanski still faced in the United States, until Polanski finally 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.
- #014
On October 30, 2017, Polanski appeared as the guest of honor at Paris's prestigious cinema museum, La Cinémathèque Francaise, to kick off a month-long retrospective of his oeuvre. About 40 protestors tried to disrupt the event. Two women, whose upper bodies were daubed with the words "Very Important Pedocriminal" yelled "No honours for rapists" at 84-year-old Polanski, who was presenting his latest film Based on a True Story (2017) to launch the retrospective. The group was behind a petition signed by more than 27,000 people to demand the cancellation of the month-long event. The Cinémathèque, which is partly state-funded, ruled out pulling the event, with its president, director Costa-Gavras, saying it does not intend to "take the place of the justice system".
- #015
Received his first 'Best Director' Academy Award for The Pianist (2002) nearly six months after the awards ceremony, since the director would be immediately arrested due to outstanding warrants stemming from fleeing the US to avoid further imprisonment after his 1978 statutory rape conviction. His friend Harrison Ford flew to France to present Polanski the award at the 29th American Film Festival of Deauville on September 11, 2003.
- #016
When he fled from the U.S. in the late 70s, much was made about the director's inability to ever make films in the States again. However, Polanski only shot 2 films in the States prior to his arrest: Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974) were shot in North America. All other English-language films before the arrest were shot in the UK, and all the ones since have been shot in Central Europe.
- #017
Polanski was set to pick up a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 67th Locarno Film Festival in 2014, but he withdrew after Swiss politicians and newspapers accused him of being a paedophile. Switzerland's Christian Democratic party released a statement urging its members to avoid participation in the planned awards ceremony, while Ticino politician Fiorenzo Dadò described Polanski on Facebook as a "pedophile who drugged and raped a girl and is now being received with full honours". Locarno organisers labelled 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." Festival 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.".
- #018
Within the Hollywood industry in the late '60s and early '70s he was often mocked as the stereotypical short, tyrannical European director.
- #019
In September 2011, Polanski returned to Zurich, Switzerland - the city where he was arrested in 2009 - to finally accept the Zurich International Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award.
- #020
After Polanski fled American justice, the judge over his case swore to put him behind bars again. Though the judge died in 1989, the director still cannot return to the U.S. as he would be arrested immediately.
Life & Family (10)
- #021
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".
- #022
On 26 September 2009, Polanski was detained by Swiss police at Zurich Airport while trying to enter Switzerland. Since this was only 1 year and 7 months after the release of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) at Sundance (Jan.18, 2008), there is reason to believe, that the documentary was actually what caused the new arrest warrant, because it dared to question the legality of Polanski's L.A. trial in 1977 and 1978 before he fled to France on 1st February 1978. Polanski and his lawyers also tried to use the new evidence from this documentary to attack the L.A. justice system, which must have awakened their new interest in the old case, too.
- #023
Sued Vanity Fair over a 2002 article that said he seduced a woman at NYC restaurant Elaine's while on his way to the funeral of Sharon Tate. Mia Farrow defended Polanski in the libel trial, testifying in London's High Court that Polanski was unable to focus on anything other than his wife's murder. A jury ruled in Polanski's favor and the magazine was ordered to pay $87,700 in damages and a substantial portion of Polanski's legal costs.
- #024
His late wife, Sharon Tate, and his ex-girlfriend, Nastassja Kinski, have the same birthday: January 24.
- #025
Roman's and Emmanuelle's daughter, Morgane Polanski, was born on 20 January, which was Roman's and Sharon's wedding day.
- #026
Has not returned to the United States since 1978.
- #027
After Polanski fled American justice, the judge over his case swore to put him behind bars again. Though the judge died in 1989, the director still cannot return to the U.S. as he would be arrested immediately.
- #028
Roman and his father are Holocaust survivors. His father was Jewish, and his half-Jewish mother (who was murdered in Auschwitz) had been raised as a Roman Catholic.
- #029
Dated Nastassja Kinski publicly after she turned 18 in 1979. The relationship is believed to have started in 1976 when Kinski was 15. They're still friends.
- #030
Had affair with Michelle Phillips from February to April 1969.
Related pages
- Pumpkinhead — Roman Polanski comes up in the facts on that page
- Bruce Lee — Roman Polanski comes up in the facts on that page
- Kate Winslet — Roman Polanski comes up in the facts on that page
Continue through the archive
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work