Roman Polanski: The Hollywood connection

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In my column today about HBO’s impressive new summer-long documentary series, I talked with Marina Zenovich, the director of ‘Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,’’ the provocative doc that launched the series Monday night--and is airing all week on HBO. It will be theaters next month. (Go here to watch HBO’s trailer for the film.) Even though the documentary focuses on the behind-the-scenes legal maneuvering in the case, Zenovich did a slew of interviews with Polanski’s old showbiz cronies, including Jeff Berg, his longtime agent; ‘Chinatown’ producer Robert Evans and ‘Chinatown’ scribe Robert Towne.

So why didn’t they make it into the movie? Zenovich says Towne had ‘all sorts of amazing things to say,’ but his tales ‘just didn’t work’ in the structure of the film. It was a little harder to get to Evans, althogh he eventually agreed to talk. But by the time Zenovich arrived for the interview session, he’d forgotten all about the interview. ‘He didn’t remember who I was,’’ she recalls. ‘At first, he said he wouldn’t answer any of my questions. I played along by taking my piece of paper with all my questions and very theatrically tearing it up and throwing it away. That seemed to satisfy him. After that, he was happy to tell all his great stories. With Evans, it felt like you were at a Roman Polanski roast.’

Her best behind-the-scenes interview story involves Sue Mengers, who was the queen of Hollywood agents during Polanski’s heyday, and Steven Soderbergh, who was one of Zenovich’s producers on the documentary.

Zenovich managed to get Mengers on the phone, but she wouldn’t agree to an interview. ‘She kept saying, ‘I don’t want to talk to you. I want to talk to Steven Soderbergh.’ So finally Steven calls her and she says, ‘How do I know this is really Steven Soderbergh?’ ‘

Zenovich laughs. ‘And Steven, always being quick on his feet, immediately says back, ‘How do I know this is really Sue Mengers?’ ‘