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20 Oct 2009 10:33

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Culture: Roman Polanski, a “high flight risk”? Pssh, whatever!

  • Guess he’s not leaving jail anytime soon. The director who famously skipped out on statutory rape charges by moving to France won’t be able to try a similar trick in Switzerland. The Swiss court has chosen not to allow the director bail due to his long history of, uh, moving to countries where he can’t get extradited. And as you might guess, Polanski is depressed and in an “unsettled state of mind” behind bars. source

14 Oct 2009 23:14

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Culture: Jail can’t keep Roman Polanski from making movies

  • Whether the film can rise above the circumstances in which the director now finds himself I don’t know. We will test to the upper limits the notion that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
  • Writer Robert Harris • Who is working with Roman Polanski on the upcoming film “The Ghost.” Harris says that while Polanski doesn’t have a phone, he can communicate and make decisions about the film while he’s fighting extradition. He’s totally using Skype, isn’t he? • source

29 Sep 2009 09:46

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Culture: Roman Polanski to Swiss: Will you guys let me go? Please?

  • The director’s hoping for leniency. Roman Polanski submitted an application to a a Swiss court today asking to be let go. He’s willing to have limitations set on his freedom. The court will decide in the next few weeks whether to let him go. Man, if they let him go after all the fuss they made about capturing him … that would be a #)&!storm. source

28 Sep 2009 20:35

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Culture: So, why didn’t they arrest Roman Polanski a long time ago?

  • Critics say they had their chances. People following the director’s long, crazy road to arrest don’t understand the timing of Polanski’s capture. It wasn’t like he had never been to Switzerland. In fact, he had a home there and openly traveled to the country. But authorities claim it was a matter of knowing when he was going to be there, but they hadn’t been scoping him out closely. source

28 Sep 2009 08:33

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Culture: The support for arrested director Roman Polanski remains strong

  • I am shocked that any man of 76, whether distinguished or not, should have been treated in such a fashion. It is hard not to believe that this heavy-handed action must be in some way politically motivated.
  • British novelist and recent Roman Polanski writing partner Robert Harris • Describing his distaste for Polanski’s arrest. Harris isn’t alone in feeling this way about the incident – French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski have both stuck their necks out for the famed director. In Sikorski’s case, he may directly ask President Obama for a pardon. • source

27 Sep 2009 12:14

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27 Sep 2009 10:33

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Culture: Roman Polanski’s been avoiding extradition for a long time now

  • 31 years since Polanski fled the U.S. out of fear he was going to jail for statutory rape; he’s lived in France most of that time
  • 76 age of the director, who has dealt with a lot of weird stuff in his life, including the Manson family murdering his wife, Sharon Tate source
 

27 Sep 2009 10:20

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Culture: Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland for some old crime

Well, so much for that whole Swiss neutrality thing that Polanski was probably riding on when he went to pick up a lifetime achievement award. source

24 Sep 2009 09:55

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Culture: Columnist: Why are Tyler Perry’s stereotyped movies so popular?

  • Maybe it’s easy for whole church buses to go see a Perry flick after Sunday service. Maybe we’re just happy to see black folks on-screen no matter what they do. Or maybe we don’t have the sense of a billy goat when it comes to choosing meaningful entertainment—I just don’t know.
  • The Root columnist Thembi Ford • Lamenting the level of success that Tyler Perry‘s movies, which have been critically lambasted across the board, have had in a short period of time. Ford notes that Perry’s movies have grossed nearly as much in seven years ($319 million) as Spike Lee’s entire canon has in over two decades ($372 million). Perry will be tackling the film version of an iconic feminist play in the future – Ntozake Shange‘s “For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” – and Ford argues that he’s simply not a good enough director for the honor. • source

06 Aug 2009 20:17

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Culture: RIP John Hughes, the guy responsible for every good ’80s film

  • I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things. The extraordinary doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested in psychotics. I’m interested in the person you don’t expect to have a story. I like Mr. Everyman.
  • Director and scribe John Hughes • On his body of work, which includes such mainstream masterpieces as “The Breakfast Club,” “Home Alone” (which he wrote but didn’t direct), “Sixteen Candles,” “Weird Science” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” amongst many others. All unbelievably mainstream, all incredibly memorable. Hughes died today of a heart attack. Bro was 59. Your childhood died with him, didn’t it Mr. Everyman? • source