Roman Polanski and Pierce Brosnan Talk Love, Loss and Sharon Tate, A Review of Valley of the Dolls and More

Pierce Brosnan was interviewed recently and said he and Polanski had discussed Sharon and the loss of loved ones.  Brosnan himself lost his own first wife, Cassandra, to ovarian cancer.  She died in his arms, no less and one day after their 11th Anniversary on December 20, 1991.  He, like Polanski has since married again.

He has said of Cassie: "Cassie has made me the man I am, the actor I am, the father I am. She's forever embedded in every fiber of my being."

Roman has seemingly been as impressed by his time with Sharon.  He never forgets her and remembers always how special she was.


http://www.cinematical.com/2010/02/08/pierce-brosnan-on-polanski-percy-and-r-patz/

Cinematical: How did you get involved with The Ghost Writer?

Pierce Brosnan: Well, I was in London, I think wrapping up Mamma Mia! or doing something like that on that movie. My agent said, "Roman Polanski would like to meet you. He's doing a movie." And I said, "Great!" And I hopped on the train over to Paris. I was with my son who's 26, Sean, and my mother, and I said, "Do you want to come to Paris for the weekend?" And that's how it happened. I got over there on a Saturday morning, my son and my mother went off 'round the city, and he and I sat and had the most long, long, long lunch and we talked briefly about the movie and established that I wasn't doing Tony Blair, and once we established that, then we talked about everything else but the movie.

Wow, what's it like to be a fly on the wall during a lunch like that?

PB: We talked about life, we talked about our losses in life. We talked a little bit about Sharon [Tate], and the deep loss and the deep pain that he still... It was a very kind of man-to-man talk. [We talked] about children. We talked about movies, making movies, the economy of movies; country, travel, food. It was very delightful – most, most charming. I did go home on the train and I thought, "God, maybe he might not want me for the job! [laughs] Maybe he might change his mind!" A director told me when I was starting out, he said, "You're always going to have to test for someone." So no matter whether you've got an Oscar or two Oscars in your back pocket, there's gonna be someone, sometime that you just have to test for. But anyway, we got on very well, and then I didn't see him until my first day on the set in Berlin.

I was under the impression that in the book, your character Adam Lang was supposed to be a thinly veiled version of Tony Blair. I thought yours had a twist of George W. Bush in there as well.

PB: Well, I certainly didn't go to Bush within it; I kept front and foremost Tony Blair and [David] Cameron and those people, and the rest was just me and my imagination – what if I were a Prime Minister and first and foremost, the great pretender, the great [performer]? And the vortex and the crisis that this man is in at this point in his life and the sham of his life and his leadership – that's what intrigued me.

Once I was off the hook, and I realized that I wasn't going to be doing a Tony Blair impersonation or trying to be like Tony Blair – Michael Sheen had already done that – you know, I just had great fun with it. There was a real sense of irony to the character, and there was humor, and I'd like to think there was some heart to the man, and that his life was a bit of a sham, really, and he knows it and he knows that he's absolutely hamstrung without his wife, and to... have so little to really fight for, that's what kind of I tried to bring to the work... Once the camera starts rolling, the performance starts pouring out of him -- the populist [who] wanted to be charming, wanted to be loved and to be witty, but absolutely has no f*ckin' idea how to run a country. Absolutely none whatsoever. A total puppet. A total puppet.

What's interesting is that it's a very timely movie politically but it has an old Hollywood drama and moodiness to it from the very first shot. Did you feel that tension on set? Everything was very gloomy, and everything was very dramatic.

PB: Well, you know, Roman comes with a lot of legend, and baggage with legend written all over it – as a filmmaker, as a man, as a controversial figure in life. And it was fairly palpable on the set... We wanted bad weather, we got bad weather. The style of filmmaking is a throwback – in style, in composition, in pacing -- to the '70s, maybe. He hasn't made a thriller – he's never made a political thriller – so here he is doing his first political thriller, and getting away with it beautifully. And it's evident up on the screen. It's very elegant and claustrophobic and tight. There's no wriggle room for the characters or for the audience, really. The set was a very happy one, but Roman is Roman, and he is the director, capital letters. He knows what he wants and how he wants it, and he's a great actor. In his world, he's a great actor, and he knows how to act, he knows how to put on a performance, and he does. But he was very happy, I think, in making the movie, and nothing was really discussed on a day-to-day basis. You know, it was very workmanlike.

What was your reaction when you heard about Polanski's arrest? Were you concerned that the movie would never see the light of day?

PB: No, I wasn't, actually. I wasn't concerned for that. I was concerned for him, as a man and as someone who had become a friend. And, you know, I hoped for closure, I still hope for closure for him and for all parties concerned. I think what happened back then was wrong in every way, and I think he certainly would like to have closure. And again, I never had discussions with him, but it's certainly adds a controversial spotlight to the movie.

Do you think people will be able to see The Ghost Writer on its own terms, despite how they might feel about Mr. Polanski?

PB: I don't know. It's not an easy question to answer, really. I can't tell what other people will react [to]. He is heralded in Europe as a magnificent director and very much appreciated here in America within the community of filmmakers as a fantastic, magnificent director. You know, but the media will certainly wring this for every ounce of blood that's in the story because it's very controversial. So I don't know how [people] will react. All I know is I came to this to work with one of the great directors of cinema.

So to wrap things up and come full circle, what's your favorite Polanski movie?

PB: Chinatown. Rosemary's Baby. Knife in the Water. I'd never seen until I started working with Roman, and it just blew me away. It just blew me away, that film, and anyone who's a lover of films, they must see that film by that young man all those years ago.
Here is a review of Valley of the Dolls:

http://thefilmivejustseen.blogspot.com/2010/02/valley-of-dolls-trashier-than-municipal.html

Actress Kim Cattrall talks about Polanski:

"When I think of Roman, I think of his nose; he smells the truth. He is very intense. Sometimes because he's French and Polish, the frustration to explain what he wants comes out and he's like 'No, no! Terrible!' And you think, 'I'm terrible?' In some ways it was very tense and in some exhilarating."

New Translated Article on Roman and Sharon: Polanski thought Sharon had a great life and career ahead of her and More

Here is a vintage article that I have just had translated.  It comes from an Italian magazine and it is an interview with Roman about his work and Sharon:


Novella 2000 August 21, 1969

Her husband remembers her well.


In an interview to our newspaper a few days before the crime in Los Angeles, the film director Roman Polanski said: "Sharon is an amazing actress. But now, I do not care about her career as an actress, but that of her role as a mother."


Roman Polanski was in Taormina on the 2nd of August. With the help of a interpreter we managed to get a brief interview. He had just won a prestigious award for Rosemary's Baby.  He starts the interview abruptly.


"Certainly you want to know if I like the awards. Yes, I like the prizes, because it always means something. What amuses me though is what people will do to get awards, but I do not do anything. However I say that I like the prizes and I have no desire to say that I do not like them just to please those who want to dispute them."


"Are you not tired of," we asked, "introducing the horror element in your films and the mysterious? There is mystery in Cul De Sac, Knife in the Water, in Rosemary's Baby, as if this were the only subject that you prefer to deal with."


Polanski replied, laughing: "My films are of horror?! But not at all! My movies are done for fun. These people who judge my films this way do not understand me.  I make a movie because I enjoy it: I bask in happy events and do not dwell on horror. Yes, I think the public generally misunderstands me."

"Mia Farrow said that Roman Polanski is her favorite director. She claims that he is the only major director who now exists. This is a big statement for a very young actress, who joined the film after much controversy, and some have said to question her credibility. What do you think?"


"I thank Mia Farrow and I agree with you that I have a great record so far with films. But do not forget Fellini and Bergman. As for Mia, I am of the opinion that she is a wonderful actress, the best that exists at this time.  But," he added, "Rosemary's Baby is just one film and I hope to make many."


"But your wife, Sharon Tate, has been found to be an excellent actress. There is a promise of a great career. Yes?"


"Sharon? Probably. What I would like her to concentrate on at this moment is not on her career as an actress, but that of her role as a mother. She is expecting a child very soon. She has went to America because we want our child to be born there.  After that, then we'll see."


"Sharon Tate is not jealous of your work with Mia Farrow?  Does this effect your personal life?"


"I do not want to compare their work! I have no intention of responding to an inquiry about my personal life," so says the director as he stood up, but his friend named Silver was detained so Polanski sat back and said: "I believe in Mia Farrow because she was the ideal interpreter for Rosemary's Baby. If it had not been Mia Farrow I would certainly have prefered to have Sharon. You can not see evil where there is none. On the other hand I am still convinced that my wife can play many more roles in my films.  Her name came out suddenly after the Dance of the Vampires and The Valley of the Dolls. Everyone says of her that she will be a great actress, but she is just waiting for the right moment. Her career is important to her but so is having a child, wouldn't you agree?"


Roman Polanski repeated this statement at a press conference that followed our interview.  Reporters in Taormina have gotten the impression of him being a man who can be obnoxious and arrogant.  This taken from a very personal speech he gave in which the opinions of others apparently had no place.  We noted in our own notebook:  "And a man not intimidated by the media who he seems willing to trample."  Our opinion had found this further confirmation:  "Sometimes I find it nice to tease people and keep them guessing," he told one reporter.

Under the photo the caption reads: They were happy in London. Sharon Tate in a recent picture with her husband, the Polish director Roman Polanski. Some days prior Sharon (who was eight months pregnant) had moved to Los Angeles: Polanski wanted his first child born in America.

There is another article in the same section about Sharon.  I will try to have it translated next.  It is a long one but it looks to have some good quotes.

Here is a nice tribute to Sharon with some lovely photographs:

http://toothpastexs.blogspot.com/2010/01/roman-lies-to-me-and-i-pretend-to.html