For Thursday, December 23, 2010: Another mention of Sharon as Marilyn, Sharon and Paul Bern and Roman Wins Award

Another mention of Sharon as Marilyn.  This digital photo really seems to be making the rounds these days:

http://paraphernaliainyourcloset.blogspot.com/2010/12/sharon-tate.html

More about the Jean Harlow-Paul Bern-Sharon Tate connection here, although many of you have probably already heard this story:

http://www.suite101.com/content/sharon-tate-encounters-harlow-house-ghost-paul-bern-a323940

And sorry if this is old news to you but I found this on Roman from December 4:

Roman Polanski wins best European picture award

(AP) – Dec 4, 2010

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," a story of a journalist hired to write the memoirs of a British prime minister, has won the prize for best film at the European Film Awards.

Polanski, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival, also took five other key prizes at the ceremony held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, late Saturday.

Nominated in seven categories, the movie won the best director prize, best actor for Ewan McGregor, and best screenwriter went jointly to Robert Harris and Polanski.

"You have awarded a truly European venture. This is too much ... thank you very much," Polanski said in an acceptance speech through a Skype connection from an unknown location. "I wish to thank — before anything — this wonderful crew I had, a truly European crew."

It was not the first time that the Polish-born director has received recognition from the European Film Academy.

The 77-year-old Oscar winning director of movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 2006 in Warsaw, Poland.

In Tallinn, French composer Alexandre Desplat was awarded for best composer while his compatriot film editor Herve de Luze won the production designer prize for Polanski's movie, which was mainly shot in Germany.

"The Ghost Writer," about the memoirs of a politician, played by Pierce Brosnan, is loosely based on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Its production was a tangled tale for Polanski.

As he was finishing the movie in September 2009 Polanski was taken into custody at Zurich airport by Swiss police at the request of U.S. authorities to face prosecution in a 1977 child sex case. He had to finish editing the film while in Swiss prison before being released on house arrest.

In July, Polanski was freed after the Swiss government declined to deport him to the United States. But he still faces an Interpol warrant in 188 countries. Most European nations, including Estonia, have an extradition treaty with the United States.

McGregor, who played the ghostwriter, said he had a "fantastic time" while making the film.

"More than any other part I've played I feel like the director Roman Polanski had his hands really on my performance and is as worthy of this award as I am," McGregor told the audience through a video message from Thailand, where he is currently shooting a film.

Among other prizes at the academy's 23rd annual awards ceremony, Swiss actor Bruno Ganz was honored with a lifetime achievement prize handed out by German director Wim Wenders.

Ganz, 69, with a screen career that spans five decades with memorable performances in Wenders' "Wings of Desire" and "The American Friend," in which he costarred with Dennis Hopper. He is also remembered from his acclaimed performance as Adolf Hitler in the 2004 German drama "Downfall" that portrays the last days of the Third Reich.

French actress Juliette Binoche presented the European achievement in world cinema award to Lebanese composer and musician Gabriel Yared, who has written scores for "The English Patient" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

The prizes — the European equivalent of the U.S. Academy Awards — have been presented since 1988 by the European academy to celebrate the continent's film industry as a European counterweight to the Oscars.

For Wednesday, March 31, 2010: Interesting Quote from Polanski, A Great Video Montage of Sharon, and Sharon, Roman on Playboy After Dark and Another Pierce Brosnan Interview

Here is an interesting quote I found from Polanski:

“I’m not a fortune teller. I would like to be judged for my work, not for my life. If there is any possibility of changing your destiny, it may only be in your creative life.”


This quote comes from a discussion about his film "Chinatown" from here:

http://tacomafilmclubannex.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/chinatown-924-broadway/

Here is a sad but very interesting montage on You Tube that has an interesting interview with Debra Tate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pMhHvcvGdw&feature=related

And if you haven't seen this Playboy After Dark interview please go here:

http://trueslant.com/susannahbreslin/2010/03/30/hugh-hefner-interviews-roman-polanski-and-sharon-tate/

Here is one of the highlights of the interview:


“I was arrested, I was arrested on a train,” Tate chimes in breathlessly. “My dress was like to here,” she gestures high on her thigh. “I said, ‘If you stop opening the windows and looking at us, you wouldn’t ever know I had a short dress on!’”


Hef asks Tate how she feels about doing nude scenes.


“Well, I feel that if it’s a real scene,” Tate responds, “and it’s an honest scene, and if it’s something where you’re stripped naked that you would be doing naturally, you know, making love, which is natural, taking a bath, you know, that’s lovely, you know, if it has a reason for it, it’s beautiful, but if it’s contrived, then, you know, it becomes vulgar.”

And here is another Pierce Brosnan interview mentioning Polanski and "The Ghost Writer".  Everytime I think he has said everything about this subject, I find something new in these interviews:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/7528829/Pierce-Brosnan-interview-for-The-Ghost.html

For Tuesday, March 30, 2010: Rare Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski footage on set of "The Fearless Vampire Killers", Brosnan Talks About Loss and Polanski and Sharon Remembered for Attending Irvin High School in El Paso, Texas

New footage from the set of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMd9Ua8OLZQ

I made a few digital screencaps here:

Pierce Brosnan is asked about his own loss and Polanski's (they both lossed wives to tragic deaths):

In 1991, you had to get over the cancer death of your wife Cassie. Is experiencing a personal tragedy, something that ties you to Roman Polanski? He had to cope with the 1969 murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate.

I think the man has suffered. Very much so. The death of Sharon - and in this brutal way with the murder of the unborn child in her womb. She was his light. I know that he has told me so himself.

Have you had the courage to address him on this tragedy?

Yes, at our first meeting at a lunch in Paris. Hey, he is Polish, I Irishman, which creates even sympathy. And somehow we both wear the same thing Cross: I lost my wife to cancer. Yes, we talked about our deceased loved ones. And he spoke of Sharon with so much tenderness, she was so close ... (Breaks off)

Her grief has influenced you deeply, and Polanski. Do you feel him so close?

Yes, I have sympathy for him. I also think that it was wrong what he did, in every respect - God! He has made bad decisions. But the court then, the 90 days in prison, the escape from justice, exile, and especially the shame - well, now the long arm of the law has taken hold of him, but now also makes it fast with your righteousness. Let dignity and compassion prevail, if only to the families and the children's sake! Families are much more affected than you can imagine. I plead for peace. It is enough.

This is from: http://piercebrosnan-greek-fans.blogspot.com/2010/04/pierce-brosnan-interview.html
 
And Sharon is mentioned here for attending Irvin High in El Paso, TX:
 
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_14812632?source=most_emailed

Photo Comparison of the Week, ICON Showing, Jay Sebring's old friend is still cutting hair, Sharon is the Best, and Brosnan appreciates work with Polanski

Here is our photo comparison of the week:

Someone mentioned that this photo of model Sophie Dahl looks a bit like Sharon:

I didn't realize the ICON Show was still going on?  But here is a woman who said she viewed it during Oscar week:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/flavia-colgan/icon-the-life-and-love-of_b_497675.html

One of Jay Sebring's old friends is still cutting hair:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14665834

Vote for Sharon as one of the best here:

http://bestuff.com/stuff/sharon-tate

Brosnan appreciates work with Polanski:

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/03/13/986434/brosnan-appreciates-work-with.html

What’s it mean that an Irishman and a Scotsman— yourself and Ewan McGregor — are in a movie that does such a job on an English prime minister?

Oh, that’s the Polanski sense of humor, an Irishman playing the ex-prime minister. That didn’t get beyond me. But I’m not sure why he wanted me, and I didn’t ask. I thought, let sleeping dogs lie. Let’s just have fun. Let’s just play. He likes actors from the British Isles.

Roman with friend Catherine Deneuve.

What made working with Polanski better, or different, than with other directors?

Well, for one thing we shot my last scene in the movie first. We rehearsed in Roman’s trailer and he said, “OK, let’s shoot.” And we did anything but shoot. He fussed with the props, he fussed with the computers, he fussed with the guns, he fussed with my security men and then, right before lunch, he said, “OK, Pierce, after lunch, 27 lens . . .” and that’s a big lens, right in your face. And then we shot the scene.

And why did you want to work with him?

The man comes out of such a turbulent past and such a history of cinema and tragedy. I’d never met him, but the day I went to have lunch with him in Paris, I already knew him — what he sounded like, what he looked like, his life. It was a great invitation, a wonderful time, a magnificent director. He’s a unique character and wonderful filmmaker, and this character that I play was a great way to step out and play a political thriller.

More of the Sharon Tate Art Gallery, Sharon in "Don't Make Waves" and a clip from Polanski's "The Ghost Writer."

First of all, I apologize for making this short tonight but I have come down with an awful head and sinus cold. 

I found this art was reminiscent of Sharon from Deviant Art and iStockphoto:

Doesn't the above photo look like that one photo that was suppose to be Sharon but actually turned out to be some other actress?  I can't remember where I saw it but if you know email it to me and I'll put it here to show everyone.

And of course, I never can do "The Sharon Tate Art Gallery" segments without including the great Kerstien Matondang: 

From her website: http://www.kerstien.se/sharoninart.htm

 

Here is a review that focuses mainly on Sharon's performance in "Don't Make Waves."  A very interesting read:

http://www.laverneonline.com/2010/03/01/upon-further-review-what-might-have-been%E2%80%A6/

And if you haven't seen "The Ghost Writer" yet here is a clip from it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/roman-polanskis-the-ghost_n_482772.html

Photo of the Week, "Eye of the Devil" Novel, Sharon's Style, and Roman talks about the light and love he still holds for Sharon

Here is the photo of the week:

I think this photo goes well with what Pierce Brosnan says about how Roman still feels about Sharon:
 

I looked for more of Odile in Philip Loraine's book, "Eye of the Devil."  However, there are only about three brief scenes she is in.  She is just mentioned really.  I am guessing that Ransohoff pushed the writers to make her part broader and more interesting, as I noticed that Philip Loraine--under the name of Robin Estridge-- along with Dennis Murphy wrote the screenplay.

Do you think Sharon would wear this?  Here is a style blog:

http://www.polyvore.com/sharon_tate_21_5o/set?id=16159876

And Pierce Brosnan talked about Polanski again in an interview for "The Ghost Writer" and he mentioned Sharon:

"I lost a wife, and this man lost his wife in the most barbaric fashion. He spoke tenderly and openly about the light and the love that he still carries for Sharon."

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/02/25/1817158/ghost-writers-real-life-parallels.html#ixzz0gg7TPkFM

More of Sharon's character from "Eye of the Devil", Polanski's Macbeth and his new film's stars talk about the director

Here's more from the novel version of "Eye of the Devil" by Philip Loraine:

....they heard the unmistakable roar of the Mercedes.

Francoise turned her head sharply.  "She's stopping."

They both looked up at the road which at this point followed the curve of the lake, divided from it by only a narrow field.  The white car was driving slowly round the bend, and the face of the girl at the wheel was turned towards them, very dark glasses masking her eyes; the brilliant hair shone in the sunlight.

"She is stopping."

Lindsay was shocked to recognize fear in her voice; he turned to look at her; she was staring up at the car, biting her lip.

"Steady on," he said.  "She's not really a witch, you know."

"I don't like her."

"Evidently."

But the white car was slowing down; it bumped on to the grass verge and came to a standstill.  The girl got out, waved to them, and began to climb the fence into the field.

"Now, why," said Francoise.  "Why?"  She looked reflectively at her children, who were sailing the grounded punt across oceans of the imagination; then she looked at Lindsay.

"You," she said.  "Yes, it must be something to do with you."

"Does it have to be something to do with something?  I mean, people do talk to people without motives."

Francoise gave him one of her unfathomable looks, when the light, the life, in her eyes seemed to have withdrawn into a deep dark cave.  She said nothing, but turned and watched the girl coming towards them.

To Lindsay she looked almost exactly like any one of the rather untidy maidens who slop around St. Tropez all summer.  She wore the same trousers that he had seen before and a shirt hanging outside of them; her feet were bare; she was very brown; whatever else she might be was obscured by the dark glasses.

Francoise said, "Odile!  I haven't seen you for ages.  This is James Lindsay.  Mademoiselle de Caray."

The girl smiled at Lindsay and sat down in one movement like a cat; the fact that she settled a little away from them--that is to say, a little farther from them than was quite natural--and then in a tuft of long grass, increased her likeness to that animal.

She said, "It's so hot; it makes me lazy."

Lindsay felt (quite wrongly as it happened), that he was beginning to get the measure of the people who frequented Bellac; in any case she had tickled his sense of humour so that he could not help laughing.  The dark glasses were levelled at him.  "You find this funny: that the heat makes me lazy."

"No," he said.  "It's nice of you, mademoiselle; you are so like a cat."

She smiled.  "How nice of you, monsieur; my mother says that I am like a ferret.  Now, I ask you, is that a nice thing to call your daughter?"

"Horrible."

She shrugged; clearly what her mother thought was of no interest to her.

The children had now rejoined them--Tante Estelle was not the only person at Bellac unable to resist strangers--and stood looking at Mademoiselle de Caray.

Gilles said, "Show us a trick, Odile."

"It's too hot."

From the sudden stillness of Francoise beside him, Lindsay gathered that this was the first time she had heard of  "tricks"; a moment later she verified his suspicion by saying, "But how interesting! What trick did Odile show you, darling?"

The small boy rubbed one leg against the back of the other.  "Oh, just tricks.  You know."

Odile, sucking a piece of grass, said, "I turned a frog into a goldfish, didn't I, Gilles?"

Antoinette, jumping up and down, shouted, "You didn't, you didn't; the goldfish was there all the time under the water-lily."

"No, truly," said Gilles, "truly Maman, she did turn the frog into a fish.  I saw."

Antoinette chanted, "Silly, silly, silly."

Francoise, pulling her son towards her and hitching up his trousers which seemed to be in danger of falling off, said, "You've got too much imagination, that's your trouble."

"No one," the girl replied, "can have too much imagination." 

"Wait until you have children."

"Children! Me!" She really was genuinely surprised--almost, Lindsay could have sworn, affronted.  "Francoise, what do you take me for?"

Something in all of this had made Francoise angry; she said, "I take you for a child yourself--sometimes a rather naughty one."

Odile lay down with her cheek against the grass.  Reflectively she said, "Yes.  I dare say you're right there.  But, Holy Face, what would life be like with no imagination."  She rolled over and took off the dark glasses.  "Don't you think so, Monsieur Lindsay?"

This was the first time that Lindsay had seen her eyes and they took him by surprise, for they were amber, two gleaming discs of tawny amber; and "discs" was the right word, for the pupils were very little darker than the iris; there was absolutely no denying that the effect was rather uncanny.  He could well understand that the local peasants might call her a witch.

"Imagination," he said.  "I'm the wrong person to ask; I never quite know where imagination begins and reality ends."

At this the girl sat up and looked at him; focused all her rather remarkable personality on him; the amber eyes widened.  "Ah," she said, "but this is the point: how intelligent of you!  There is no such thing as either reality or imagination; they are the same thing.  Gilles saw me turn the frog into a goldfish; Antoinette knew that the goldfish was underneath the water-lily all the time; as it happens neither of them are right, but where is the reality and where the imagined thing?  Which is which?"

"This," Lindsay said, "makes scientists the stupidest people in the world." He was absolutely fascinated by her eyes.

The girl spread her hands.  "Who denies that they are?  Give a scientist enough time and he would arrive at what he would call the truth, which is that I had caught the goldfish, before the children appeared; then I saw the frog, and I thought, 'Here's a chance for some magic.'  What's childhood without a little magic?  And so I did my 'trick.'  But the reality was not the dry truth, it was what the children saw--and what they saw, they saw with their imaginations."

Lindsay could see, in his mind, the little cold body of the goldfish secreted in her brown hand; each golden scale was clear to him, and the magical sheen of the belly, as if it had been painted with a rainbow.  And the wonderful golden eye, ringed with a circle of black.  And in the golden eye of the golden fish cold be seen reflected the Chateau of Bellac and the lake and the round, surprised faces of the children--children watching a miracle in the golden eye of a goldfish...

Suddenly he felt violently sick; it began with a nausea, and suddenly gripped his stomach so that he had to fight in order not to vomit; he heard himself let out a groan.  The sea of quivering gold--it was like looking out to sea directly into the eye of the sunset--receded; lapped away into illimitable distance.

Francoise said, "James, are you all right?"

He opened and shut his eyes once or twice. "Yes.  Yes, perfectly."

He looked up.  Odile de Caray was plaiting three pieces of grass, very intent on what she was doing.

"I..." He shook his head again.  "I felt a bit sleepy, that's all."

The girl smiled.  "Ah," she said, "so I am not the only one the heat affects in that way.  Well--I'd better be going."

She stood up, again in one sinuous movement, and put on her dark glasses.  "Nice to see you again, Francoise--and you, monsieur."

She waved to the children, who had returned to the punt, and walked slowly away from them across the field.

Francoise said, "James, what on earth...?  I thought you were going to faint."

Lindsay, frowning at the slim retreating back, said, "What a little bitch!  She hypnotised me--just like that."

Francoise let out a gasp.

"Just like that," he said.  "I fell for it completely."

"Hypnotised you!"

"There's nothing extraordinary about it.  Masses of people can do it.  But not as quickly as that, not as effortlessly."

"But why?  Why did she?"

"I may be wrong, but I think it's a warning."  He told her then about the book of fairy tales that had taken the place of the Montfaucon history while he slept.

"Oh, no," she said.  "Oh, I don't like that at all, James."

"I do.  I like it very well."

"But I feel... It was my idea that you should come here; I feel responsible for you."

He ignored this.  Eyes narrowed against the glare, he watched the girl get into her glamorous car.

"I like it," he said, "because it proves that we're on the right track.  I must get back to my history, Francoise."

And that ends that chapter. 

Here is an interesting blog about why Roman chose to make "Macbeth" after Sharon's death:

http://mrconversesenglish3201blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/macbeth-filmmakers-wife-murdered-by.html

I have found an array of many interviews with the stars of "The Ghost Writer," Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor.  They discuss what it was like working with Polanski.  They are all quite interesting...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/18/earlyshow/leisure/boxoffice/main6219911.shtml

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/ewan-mcgregor-praises-ghost-writer-director-roman-polanski/story?id=9873344

http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/02/18/pierce-brosnan-interview-the-ghost-writer/

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Interview-Ewan-McGregor-17134.html

http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/polanski-picked-on-mcgregors-accent-1538837.story

http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/article.aspx?id=111147&fm=newsmain,nrhl

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/the-moviegoer-talking-with-ewan-mcgregor/

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1632272/story.jhtml

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1632272/story.jhtml

http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_14450918

http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/-235931--.html

http://www.austin360.com/movies/mcgregor-sees-parallels-in-polanskis-life-and-his-285371.html