‘Variety Confidential’ Examines Roman Polanski, Fugitive Director and Convicted Rapist
variety.comVariety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Known for “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Pianist,” Roman Polanski is one of the most acclaimed directors in cinematic history.
He is also a convicted child rapist who has faced several sexual assault allegations over the course of his career. In “Disgraced Genius,” the fifth episode of Variety and iHeart Podcasts’ true crime podcast “Variety Confidential,” host Tracy Pattin and co-host Matt Donnelly, Variety’s senior entertainment and media writer, examine Polanski’s downfall after decades of Hollywood reverence. “One of the most important things to know about Polanski that modern audiences may not remember is that he represented something so exciting and new in cinema in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Donnelly explains. “It’s not just that he was a successful director, but really a celebrity in his own right for what he represented.
All of that vision came with power, and I think a lot of that flash, integrity and prestige blinded many he worked with to behavior that was going on behind the scenes.” “There are few sex scandals more infamous in Hollywood than Roman Polanski’s statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl,” Pattin says.
The French Polish director, who was married to Sharon Tate, was originally arrested in August 1977 in Los Angeles for assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey during a photo shoot. “Polanski gave Samantha a quaalude, a sedative that was said to be an aphrodisiac.
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