Directors at Cannes sign petition supporting Roman Polanski as he fights extradition to L.A.

Roman Polanski is getting more support from the movie industry in his battle to avoid extradition to face sentencing in a sex case in Los Angeles.

Several noted directors have signed a petition in support of Polanski at the Cannes Film Festival.

The effort comes several days after a Los Angeles judge denied Polanski’s request to unseal transcripts of recent testimony by the original prosecutor in his 33-year-old sex-crime case, rejecting arguments that they were necessary for the filmmaker’s extradition proceedings.

Polanski is under house arrest in Switzerland, awaiting word on whether Swiss authorities will send him back to L.A. to face sentencing for having sex with a girl more than three decades ago.

Polanski broke his silence on the issue earlier this month, claiming L.A. prosecutors want "to serve me on a platter to the media of the world."

"I can remain silent no longer because the California court has dismissed the victim's numerous requests that proceedings against me be dropped, once and for all, to spare her from further harassment every time this affair is raised once more," Polanski wrote.

According to the Associated Press, directors Jean-Luc Godard, Mathieu Amalric and Bernard Tavernier have signed the petition at Cannes.

The petition reads in part: "They hereby appeal to the Swiss authorities, entreating them not to believe the word of Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger and the prosecutors of the state of California."

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[sitdownandbequiet]

Why is District Attorney Steve Cooley wasting so much public money on the prosecution of this long dormant and corrupted case?

[Cynthia]

He admits he did the crime.
He needs to do the time!!!

[Nemo]

LOL. Why not just have the City Council boycott Switzerland if they try to extradite him to Los Angeles? No sense in ruining a perfect record of stupidity.

[DavidAdner]

More pieces of garbage

[Joel Johnson]

More stupid scumbags. Now we know not to watch their movies as well.

[Gus Levy]

Isn't it crazy that a man can't rape an adolescent young girl and flee the country to escape prosecution without a statute of limitations?! Most people in Society can't remember what they ate for lunch last week so shouldn't Society simply forget that a man raped a young girl after a certain amount of time - say, perhaps, a few weeks?

[DRE DAWG]

What the hell is wrong with you Shelby Grand!? "...for having sex with a girl more than three decades ago" He raped a 13 year old girl, first drugging her and seducing her with promises of making her a model. I don't care how good a director he is, he needs to pay for his crime of raping a little girl. Once again for these idiot directors from Cannes.....RAPING A 13 YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jason]

When did it become okay to rape a young child and then protect the rapist ? What the hell is wrong with you people ?

[GG]

And their opinions matter because... um... why exactly?

[Norm Silver]

I'm really impressed. The signers of that petition are for the most part on the run from something too. Most for US tax evasion. I wonder if they included their monetary doantions to Roman so his pocketbook will get a break? Polanski just sneers the the US. He does want to come back but he'll never touch this shore again if he has to do it looking at a court appearance.

[JC]

It never fails to amaze me how we are a nation of laws. Until we have a celebrity or police officer involved.

[TheBigPicture]

That should make a huge difference...a bunch of dope smoking draft dodgers signing a petition...Give me a break....

We need to imprison him before he dies...Give him a 5-7 sentence...

[Mary]

I expect that our city council will boycott all films and any filming work now. Why shouldn't such logic apply to the film industry as a whole when we dare to boycott the entirety of Arizona over the decisions of a few?
As for Polanski's comment at being served on a platter, he needs to accept the responsibility he owns for having created such a nightmare situation by running and refusing to step up and be held accountable.

boycott films, especially films by any foreign directors to drive home some hard facts of how we refuse to be consumed for profits and have our laws totally ignored

[sophie]

",...entreating them not to believe the word of Governor [Arnold] Schwarzenegger and the prosecutors of the state of California."

LOL

[Boraxo]

Apparently Polanski has some sick friends. I wonder how they would feel if their daughters had been brutally raped in a similar fashion? Most of their French compatriots don't agree with their views so this activity must just be a disgusting fetish of French moviemakers.

Time for Polanski to be extradited and do his time.

[kanank]

The people who signed the petition apparently have no respect for established laws and don't seem to think that child molestation is a serious crime. I wonder if the people have signed have teen daughters and would they be ok if their children become a victim and if they would be willing to forgive the culprit? I hope the answer from them is a 'No'.
Why don't they pay up and donate $100M dollars to poor neighborhoods or welfare of abused children in return for forgiveness. It won't be bad deal in a bad economy like this.

[Carol]

Roman Polanski is a pedophile. He had illegal relations with a 13 year old girl. In the interest of the community at large, the victim is not the one who decides whether to prosecute, but the attorney's office.

Would any of those signing the petition allow their 13 year olds to have relations with someone 20 or 30 years older?

[Sheryl]

Just more movies I won't be watching--add them to the list of Pedophile Supporters I Won't Put Money in the Pockets Of.

[John from the Westside]

I used to support Polanski before I knew the facts. Read the girl's testimony and then try to feel sorry for him. The man is, simply, a child predator.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/roman-polanski/story?id=8705958

[Paul]

Polansky RAPED a 13-year old girl. I don't care how long ago it was, he is a RAPIST who evaded his punishment. I don't care that some movie directors think it's okay to rape a young girl. He needs to go to prison!

[john1776]

man up and face the music like everybody else has to. Polanski is acting like a scared little school boy.

[Figgins]

Let each of these so called notable directors have their 12-year old daughters served up for drugs and anal sex with Polanski. Then we'll see how fast they change their tune.

[J Moss]

I would sign that petition in a heart beat. Polanski's only crime was trying to be nice to a girl who wanted to get into movies and look where that got him?

As Whoopi Goldberg said, this was not "Rape, Rape," but simply an older guy who should have known better, getting seduced by an ambitious female.

It's time to put a stop to all this nonsense and allow Polasnski to get on with his life, he paid the woman $500k for her services and she's perfectly happy with the arrangement, so why is the DA going after an old man who tried to help a girl out? Enough, move on.

[bobbyo2732]

Remember that, after running to Europe, Roman moved Natasha Kinski into his home when she was fifteen, and he was 52...still the same cradle robber, just a different address.....

[Robert Ameeti]

Why should we care what Polanski's friends in the entertainment industry feel about his extradition? Are a person's friends supposed to play any part in the decision to prosecute someone?

Polanski seems to feel that 'every time it is brought up' that it hurts his victim. He could eliminate the continual bringing up of the subject by dealing with it instead of running away and putting forth appeals. Every appeal of his 'brings it back up.' If he really cared about the victim, he would deal with it and stop dodging the bullet.

Polanski merely wants to benefit from the time that he has spent hiding from the law. There is no 'get out of jail card' that should exist because someone has hidden from the law for a significant period of time. You run away, you pay the price. Polanski: Do the crime, pay the price.