Director Roman Polanski is hoping to make another historical drama, but he needs to be sure that he won’t be extradited to the U.S. first.
Polanski is looking to make a film about the infamous 19th century Dreyfus Affair, in which French officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of espionage in a case allegedly motivated by anti-Semitism. He wants to make it in his native Poland, but is fearful that the government there may extradite him to the U.S. He is still wanted in the U.S. after he was convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 and fled the country.
Polanski’s Polish attorney, Jerzy Stachowicz, told Reuters about the Chinatown filmmaker’s plans. Producer Robert Benmussa, who worked on Polanski’s The Piano, said in Krakow last week that the project hasn’t been greenlit yet.
“We have to be sure that filming will not be interrupted for legal reasons,” Benimussa said at a press conference.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Polanski has already started location scouting and has started talking with studios in Warsaw and Krakow. If he does make the film in Poland, it would be his first made there since Knife in the Water (1962).
Polanski, who does have French and Polish citizenship, has visited Poland recently, even attending a film festival where he gave a master class for students. At the time, the government didn’t extradite him, but Polanski needs to know if he can stay there for the full time it takes to make a movie.
Polanksi’s latest film, Venus in Fur, debuted in limited theaters and on VOD this month.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com