Posted on 05/16/2010 11:25:21 AM PDT by OldDeckHand
CANNES -- To sign or not to sign is the big question at this year's Festival de Cannes, and there's not a deal memo in sight. But then a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal, is always going to set tongues wagging.
The Croisette-pounders have even more to buzz about following new allegations Friday by British actress Charlotte Lewis that she was sexually abused by Polanski in 1982 when she was 16.
Just hours before Lewis made the claim at a news conference in Los Angeles, Michael Douglas -- in town this weekend for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" -- said "Non" to the Polanski petition. It would be "unfair" for him to sign a petition for "somebody who did break the law," Douglas told French radio.
But the call is out for Competition directors to sign a docket in support of Polanski. The petition, posted on a website overseen by French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, asks for "justice" from the Swiss authorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodreporter.com ...
Polanski pleaded guilty in 1978 to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl. But after a judge said he would renege on the plea bargain, Polanski fled to his native France and has been a fugitive since then.
This is a common, and completely INACURUATE account of what happened. The Judge didn't "renege" on the plea agreement because judges aren't bound by plea agreements. And, every defendant who enters in a plea agreement with prosecution, is told by the prosecution in the agreement itself, and in open court prior to entering a plea, PRECISELY that the Court is not bound by the agreement.
Furthermore, we have no idea what the judge was going to do because Polanksi fled the jurisdiction after entering a plea, but before sentence was imposed.
Oh please post this list when it’s found because I would love to make sure a penny of mine never falls toward the losers who would sign this.
[The petition. . .asks for “justice” from the Swiss authorities.]
If Polanski got “justice” he would be speaking in a falsetto voice in his twilight years.
Michael Douglas refused to sign this petition....goo fo r him
Wood-Yi Allen is very sympathetic to Polanski. Figures.
Betting that they don’t want you to see it.
http://laregledujeu.org/2010/05/11/1462/petition-des-nomines-a-cannes-en-faveur-de-roman-polanski/
Only ones posted so far
Jean-Luc Godard
Mathieu Amalric
Xavier Beauvois
Agnès Varda
Bertrand Tavernier
Olivier Assayas
Jean-Stéphane Bron
Patricio Guzman
Jean Paul Civeyrac
Katell Quillévéré
Cristi Puiu
Louis Garrel
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