GERMANY: Polanski absent but Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor attend world premiere for "Ghost Writer".

Record ID: 218992

  • Title: GERMANY: Polanski absent but Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor attend world premiere for "Ghost Writer".
  • Date: 14th February 2010
  • Summary: BROSNAN SAYING THANK YOU TO REPORTERS AND WALKING AWAY / CLOSE OF BERLINALE PALASTE SIGN
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA887VFPHNGN4J0H75RCD2MY3C3
  • Story Text: Director Roman Polanski misses world premiere for his film "The Ghost Writer" in Berlin but the red carpet is attended by stars Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams.
    Roman Polanski's much-anticipated movie "The Ghost Writer" had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday (February 12) with the stars of the film walking the red carpet but with the director unable to attend due to his house arrest.
    Oscar-winning Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland in September, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles in 1977 to having unlawful sex with 13-year-old Samantha Gailey (now Geimer), at the Los Angeles home of actor Jack Nicholson.
    But fearing the judge might sentence him to years in prison, Polanski skipped bail in 1978 and fled to France before his sentence was pronounced. The maker of "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" is now fighting extradition to the United States.
    Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams, the stars of "The Ghost Writer" braved the Berlin chill to walk the red carpet in one of the Berlinale's most talked about films even before its screening.
    In the movie based on a novel "Ghost" by Robert Harris, Ewan McGregor plays a writer who is hired to knock former Prime Minister Adam Lang's long and tedious memoirs into shape.
    Soon after he is hired, Lang, residing in the United States, is accused of war crimes, and in scenes echoing public anger in Britain at Blair's decision to join the war in Iraq, he is picketed by protesters who blame him for waging war illegally.
    The writer stumbles across evidence that Lang may have been lying about his past, and his search for the truth becomes increasingly dangerous and desperate.
    Williams, who plays Lang's wife Ruth, said premiering the movie was especially poignant for cast and crew as they filmed many parts of the scene, replicating London, in Germany.
    Polanski was forced to find an alternate location resembling the United States and the UK to avoid detention.
    "It's a real pleasure, we made the movie here in Berlin so it feels right this is the place. And it's very moving that it's the 60th anniversary of your film festival and I was watching tv when the wall came down and to see how beautiful this city is and what it's become after reunification still gives me a thrill," said Williams.
    Brosnan said he spoke to the director just before the premiere.
    "I just got off the phone with him and to wish him well in this moment in time with this magnificent film that he has made and from Roman 'toi, toi, toi' (German saying, meaning to wish well or good luck)," said the actor.
    "The Ghost Writer" is one of 20 films in the main competition line-up in Berlin.
    It will open across Germany on February 18 and in limited cinemas in the United States on February 19.
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