CZECH REPUBLIC: Director Roman Polanski feels the pressure as "Oliver Twist" film premieres in Prague
Record ID:
219924
CZECH REPUBLIC: Director Roman Polanski feels the pressure as "Oliver Twist" film premieres in Prague
- Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: Director Roman Polanski feels the pressure as "Oliver Twist" film premieres in Prague
- Date: 29th September 2005
- Summary: (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) INTERIOR WIDE ARRIVAL OF THE CAST OF "OLIVER TWIST", HARRY EDEN WHO PLAYS THE ARTFUL DODGER, BARNEY CLARK WHO PLAYS OLIVER TWIST, DIRECTOR ROMAN POLANSKI AND LEANNE ROWE WHO PLAYS NANCY PHOTOGRAPHERS CLOSE OF BARNEY CLARK AND ROMAN POLANSKI WIDE OF PANEL CLOSE OF CAMERA OPERATORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR ROMAN POLANSKI, SAYING: "The toughness of the film is just as tough as Dickens is. But children do read Dickens. It may be some type of film that gives children something to think about. And I remember when I was of the age of those youthful this film is designed for, I liked to think about a movie after I left the cinema. In other words: I prefer to serve them food that is not pre-digested." CLOSE OF LEANNE ROWE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROMAN POLANSKI SAYING: "What I went through as a child has certain parallels indeed and it gave me lots of experience and helped me in staging a lot of scenes because moments in this film remind me very much of moments in my own life but that was not the reason for my choice of the subject. I was not even thinking about it. But once I found myself on the set doing certain I knew how to deal with it because I simply had to go back into my childhood." WIDE OF PANEL (SOUNDBITE) (English), BARNEY CLARK, SAYING: "My favourite scenes where definitely the ones where I was doing my own stunts and climbing on the roof with Jamie (Jamie Foreman plays Bill Sykes) as I really like these kinds of things. I also liked when Oliver climbed into Mr Brownlows house. The only thing I didn't like is the night shots." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROMAN POLANSKI SAYING: "I think it seemed you did not like it in the rain, in the haystack." WIDE OF CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 14th October 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Czech Republic
- Country: Czech Republic
- Reuters ID: LVA5JEEFFUZHDR6XMC5B7YLG38G1
- Story Text: His last film may have been The Pianist, for which he won a best director Oscar, but that's no guarantee of fame and funding for Roman Polanski, who attends the world premiere of his latest work Oliver Twist on Saturday.
Polanski's rendition of the Charles Dickens classic was the biggest budget film of his 50-year career at some $60 million.
But the 72-year-old director said that a golden statue for his 2002 Holocaust drama added pressure, not money to his newest venture.
"Naturally when you win a prize certain things become easier; dealing with distributors, producers, studio executives. But that doesn't give you carte blanche," Polanski said ahead of Saturday night's screening in the city where he shot the movie.
"But it didn't give me any money to make this film!"
Taking three years to make a follow up to The Pianist added even more pressure, according to the Paris-born, Polish director of such classics as "Chinatown", "Rosemary's Baby" and "Tess".
Polanski said the reality of filmmaking these days meant taking more time to put together a movie than it did when he first began his career in the 1950s.
"From film to film it's more and more difficult to decide what you're going to do next. And it takes longer and longer between films," he told reporters.
"I remember when I was beginning to make films, a year already seemed like a long time. I knew people who would do two films in a year. Now if you do one film in two years it's a lot. Usually it's one in three years. It's not only my problem, but a problem in general."
A remake of Oliver is seen by many as a gamble as it faces off against the likes of the hugely successful Harry Potter series, but Polanski said the film was as much about making something for his own children as it was for himself.
The father of a daughter and a son with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, Polanski said making the film was about intersecting his career with his family.
"After The Pianist, I wanted to do a film that my children could somehow identify with," he said, adding it was his wife who originally brought up the idea of filming Twist.
While his professional life is strewn with honours, Polanski's personal life remains a constant talking point.
He is wanted in the United States after admitting having sex with a 13-year-old-girl in 1977. He fled the country in 1978 while on bail, and has lived in France ever since.
In July he won a libel case against Vanity Fair magazine over an article saying he tried to seduce a Scandinavian "beauty" soon after his wife was murdered while 8-1/2 months pregnant in 1969.
Though reluctant to talk about the case in detail, Polanski said the trial was his way of forcing out the truth.
"They simply went a little bit too far. Not a little bit, a lot too far. There are certain limits and beyond them I would not let anyone step," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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