Marina Zenovich, the director of last year’s HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, has issued a statement responding to retired Los Angeles county prosecutor David Wells’ remarks yesterday that he lied on camera during the filming of the movie. In the doc, Wells claims he advised Superior court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband before sentencing and advised him to sentence the director to prison time. Yesterday Wells told the Los Angeles Times, “That was not true. I like to speak of it as an inept statement, but the reality is that it was a lie.”
Zenovich responds, “I am perplexed by the timing of David Wells’ statement to the press that he lied in his interview with me…. Since June of 2008, the film has been quite visible on U.S. television via HBO, in theaters and on DVD, so it is odd that David Wells has not brought this issue to my attention before.”
She continues. “For the record, on the day I filmed Mr. Wells at the Malibu Courthouse, February 11, 2005, he gave me a one-hour interview. He signed a release like all my other interviewees, giving me permission to use his interview in the documentary worldwide. At no time did I tell him that the film would not air in the United States.”
“Mr. Wells was always friendly and open with me,” says Zenovich. “At no point in the four years since our interview has he ever raised any issues about its content. In fact, in a July 2008 story in The New York Times, Mr. Wells corroborated the account of events that he gave in my film. I’m astonished that he has now changed his story. It is a sad day for documentary filmmakers when something like this happens.”
Zenovich’s documentary has been credited for spurring Polanski’s attorneys to seek dismissal of the case, which many believe inspired the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office to reinvigorate their case against the 76-year old director who fled the United States over 30 years ago upon learning he would be sentenced to more jail time. Polanski was arrested on Sunday in Switzerland and is currently fighting extradition to the United States. Zenovich is planning a sequel to the previous documentary.
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The documentary bases its entire argument of judicial misconduct on the interview with this man. If the interview was a lie, the entire documentary is suspect.
The SOB raped that child. Prosecute the bastard.
Send the pedophile rapist to prison where he belongs.
It’s hard to understand where ANY DECENT HUMAN BEING can support this rapist and child molester. The account of what happened is monstrous. I hope they finally get him – not that it makes up for decades of freedom he obviously doesnt’ deserve. Would a non-Hollywood elite get this type of treatment for the same admitted crime?
I am a Democrat, I work in Hollywood, and I think Roman Polanski is a child raper. Throw away the key!!
It’s a sadder day when the term documentary filmmaker is applied to the likes of Michael Moore and now this pedophile apologist.
While I agree with your sentiment, he WAS prosecuted, pled guilty to a charge agreed upon by his attorney and the DA, and was convicted.
The hearing he left the country before appearing was for sentencing, not trial. He claimed he fled because he thought the judge would alter the plea agreement.
Here’s a link to a Boston Globe review of the documentary.
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2008/06/09/reexamining_polanskis_trial/
You guys understand nothing. It’s not about what Roman did it’s about humanity. What good will it do to bring him behind bars now hurting his family, ruining the rest of his productive life? Will it change anything in what happened then? Will it fix anything? Adding another tragedy to the one that happened and that was forgiven by the victim will do any good? What a stupid notion of justice Americans have! Absolutely agree with what the French foreign minister said: sinister and stupid.
I understand your views but we must follow the law…no one is exempt. We cannot excuse him because he is a brilliant artist who has a family. He committed a crime(a serious one) he must now face up to his sentence. Is our justice system flawed? yeah though I like to think it is better than most….
I agree with Dankam, they should let him go. infact i will do what Polanski did, then flee the country and be safe from Justice, how dare they try to bring him back and ruin his career, and family. Oh wait, all rapists should be put in jail to rott, ever after 30 years, you flee the country because you know you did something wrong, doesn’t matter it was 30 years later that you are caught, raping is still raping 30 years later. freaking rapist supporters. Humanity is not doing things to kids and being kind.
HA-HA! That is some first-class trolling there, dankam. Bravo!
dankam – the purpose of prison time is not only to rehabilitate the criminal, it is also to punish the criminal for his/her illegal acts. I grew up hearing the story that this was statutory rape and the the girl was a willing participant (not that a young adolescent is able to legally consent to sex). In truth, she was not a teenager who willingly and actively engaged in the sex acts; she was plied with alcohol and given drugs to obtain her compliance. This changes the act from statutory rape to plain old rape. He had a sweetheart deal, even if he had to serve more time than was agreed to in the plea bargain.
The only thing more unconscionable than defending him is defending him on the grounds that he’s a great artist and/or that he’s faced tragedy (murder of sharon tate and holocaust) in his life.
Right let’s see how you feel if it had happened to your 13 year old. I’m from another country too and its still not okay. Fine the victim wants it to be over, can’t blame her. He is still guilty and deserves no better or worse than anyone else. BTW I consider myself a liberal democrat too. So what? Rape is rape is rape. It’s not even statutory, she was 13. What were you thinking about at 13?
Oh my Gosh!!! We don’t want to “hurt” *his* family now do we? What are we thinking??
We couldn’t bring back the victims of the Holocaust but we still pursue those who murdered millions and even those who were just following orders, and sat at a desk. We are going to pursue Phil Garrido, and many others, not because we can put back together the lives they have stolen, but because there IS punishment for crimes; no matter where, no matter when it happened, and no matter how long you have been on the run!
Next time someone rapes your family members and runs from their punishment you come tell us ALLLLL about how it isn’t going to “fix” anything to prosecute them.
You mean the life he managed to create and profit from without serving out any sentence? The 30 years of controversy that he forced upon his victim whenever the media picked up the case (he’s to blame for that–not the media)?
Polanski has not taken any responsibility for his crime.
Can’t rape the willing.
SHE WAS 13 YEARS OLD!
If he had “consensual” sex with your 13 yr.old daughter, Andy, would you still say she was a “willing” participant?
My 13-y.o. is a total slut.
personally, i don’t believe in “stautory” rape. either someone is willing or not. sure a child can be manipulated. but if i had a child, i would teach them NOT to be manipulated in such a way. i would teach them to scream, and run, and fight. and i would never leave them alone in hollywood with an older man. i say it about a lot of these cases where kids get “molested” bc their parents left them with an adult they don’t know and shouldn’t trust(seriously, if it’s rape, just call it rape). if the person who did the molesting gets arrested, then the parents who allowed it to happen should have some repercussions too.
How is it willing when she repeatedly told him no, pushed him away, went to another room, said she wanted to go home…and on top of that she was drugged and totally intimidated by him. Once he was in her he asked if she was on the pill and again she said no, stop, and he said he would just go in from the back. So he did.
How does that sound consentual?
I admire her for forgiving him and moving forward with her life. I believe in the power of forgiveness but that doesn’t dismiss the need for a consequence.
She didn’t want it pursued more so she could stop reading about it and being interviewed and having paparazzi outside her door…her comment was that once he fled the country, things died down and she didn’t have press outside her house anymore. She wanted to let it go because it felt like she was victimized all over again whenever the case was mentioned. It’s not because she thinks what he did didn’t deserve punishment.
The guy is lucky he was able to have such a forgiving victim, and has continued to have a successful career, a wife, and children. The sentence given was far too harsh but the reality is he would have gotten out much earlier than the 8 years and could have remained and lived his life in the US, and he chose to run instead. If I were him I would put my head down and admit fault and throw himself on the mercy of the courts who would undoubtedly give him far less than the original 8 year sentence, in minimum security. Hell he could probably write all about it and revitalize his career from the experience.
She wasn’t willing, Andy.
She was 13. He drugged her and then led her to have sex. So is drugging people okay so they don’t struggle? Willing? Really?
A 13 year old girl isn’t legally able to give consent so it doesn’t matter what her feelings were. Besides, if you knew anything about this case at all, which you obviously don’t, you would know that the girl was far from willing. She was drugged and raped.
FYI, anyone who wants to read the transcript of the trial where Polanski pleaded guilty and the terms of the plea agreement were outlined can find it at thesmokinggun.com.
I don’t think anyone should be able to avoid justice because of their celebrity. However, I don’t think anyone should receive additional or unduly harsh punishment because of their celebrity, either. Based on the evidence, the court was about to give Polanski probation based on a plea agreement, but the judge decided to get his five minutes of fame by making an example out of him. There’s enough abuse of justice to tar all sides in this case.
Most of that info came from ADA Wells, who now admits he was lying when he said that about the judge.
Now that we know ADA Wells is a liar, how do we know he isn’t lying now? The motivation for him to lie now seems stronger than the motivation he claims caused him to lie years ago.
No, the motivation for him to be truthful is greater now. Polanski’s lawyers could call him to testify about what Well’s alleged about the judge. If he lies under oath, he could go to jail. Lying to make himself look important, in a film that he thinks will never be shown in the US, is not a big risk for him. Especially because he probably thought Polanski would never be caught.
The judge is dead and there were no other witnesses to the alleged discussion. If he lied, how would anyone know? The ex-ADA knows that he can lie about it now all he wants and there is absolutely no way to prove he’s lying. I firmly believe he’s lying now because he doesn’t want to be known as the guy who helped Polanski escape justice.
What difference does it make is some jerk lied, or didn’t lie to a film producer??1!
Polanski managed to plea bargain a series of life sentence charges down to near zero and then fled the jurisdiction, after pleading GUILTY.
Nothing else matters. He is a guilty – by his own admission – fugitive and must face justice. If I possessed video images, of what he admits doing to the 13 year old, on my computer I would go to jail for several years, if apprehended.
dankam, stop being a drama queen.
Think instead. You are saying that sending anyone to jail is just adding one tragedy on top of another and harms humanity.
Andy, get a clue that it does not matter how willing a drugged child is, you are going to prison if you touch her.
“Can’t rape the willing.”
That’s bunk. The girl said no. She said stop. She asked to leave repeatedly. She was not willing. Once a ’stop’ is issued, anything after is non-consensual, and is thus rape… sex continued or achieved or engaged in by any force sufficient to override the will of another.
It didn’t matter if she was all over him, she was a child, and he was a pedophile rapist, that is what it is when a Child is forced into sex with a fully grown man. He practically could have been her grandfather, and a stranger to boot. He kept her against her will and then anaesthetized her to sto her flight and her cries!!! It is a CRIME, and he must pay.
Her grandfather? He was 44. Technically, yes it’s possible, but cripes overdramatic much?
While I do not support rapists in any way,shape or form. I am looking at the case per se, and see how much money has transpired between the govt, Polanksi, the victim and how he initially did face the charges but fled once he got wind of what the judge was doing. The circumstances are what they are. Do I think he should get off scott free? – No, Do I think that we as taxpayers need to keep contributing to this witch hunt? – No. We have hundreds if not thousands of rape cases per year and wish that we can put our resources to those cases instead of this case. Maybe Polanski can do something worthwhile to help rape victims worldwide, I think that would be a better outcome, expecially since the victim wants this to end. She is the victim, not our government…
I would have to concur with you babaloo06. At the end of the day I know everyone is saying he escaped b/c of his fame but that is the biggest reason for this continual hunt. By the way, I love how no one mentioned that the victim sought justice through the civil courts and won. The whole point of the plea deal was to save her from having to go through a lengthy trial, and now because of possible corruption and our interest she has had to deal with this periodicaly for the last 30yrs. At the end of the day she, has chosen to no longer persue the issue and has repeatedly asked that we the public and our government drop the case. We are only doing her and her family more harm. There are others who are going scott free b/c we’ve chosen to put a bankrupt state’s money towards this rather than persue others who have also committed crimes. Tell me how we are serving the greater good with that.
The victim has done more than anyone could ask by coming forward at such a young age and we should respect her current wishes to move forward. The crime was not committed against any one of us and we should move forward as well and focus our attention on all the other cases of abuse in this country.
his first relationship after running to france was with a 15 year old. He now has his own thirteen year old daughter..what line of questions would you ask him now. He is not nor has been a victim of anything. Do you really think there are no other victims from this rich pedophile