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By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Posted Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 - Comments Off on Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired and released by THINKFilm after HBO preem
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Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired and released by THINKFilm after HBO preem

Roman PolanskiA note that had been made at Sundance now fully flowers: THINKFilm topper Mark Urman spent several years in the 90s as a publicist to Polanski and was an early consultant on Marina Zenovich’s documentary. Here’s today’s PR:
“THINKFilm Acquires Theatrical Rights To “ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED” From HBO
 
New York, May 1, 2008 – THINKFilm has acquired from HBO, the US theatrical and home video rights to ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, Marina Zenovich’s acclaimed documentary about the public scandal and private tragedy that drove the legendary director from the United States more than 30 years ago. The film, which had its world premiere at Sundance 2008, will make its international debut in the official selection at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival. HBO will air ROMAN POLANSKI on June 9th, with THINKFilm’s theatrical engagements beginning with a New York opening on July 11th.  The deal, which was jointly announced by THINKFilm President Mark Urman and Sheila Nevins, president, HBO Documentary Films, is the latest and most innovative collaboration between the two companies, whose long series of partnerships has yielded two Oscar wins, most recently with this year’s “Taxi to the Dark Side.”
 
About the acquisition, Urman says, “Marina’s film is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen in years.  It is as compulsively enjoyable as the juiciest tabloid yet it also serves as a stunning indictment of our tabloid-crazed culture. Buoyed by HBO’s terrific promotional support, the film should Zenovichhave enormous want-to-see, and exhibitor interest in the film couldn’t be higher.”  Urman, who served as Polanski’s publicist for several years in the 90’s, was interviewed by Zenovich on background at the earliest stages of production.  Of Urman’s involvement as the film’s distributor she says, “While researching this film I discovered that Mark had worked with Roman Polanksi [sic].  After talking to him, I realized that he had a real understanding of the story and knows how to get it to the biggest audience.  Having THINK and HBO behind the film is every documentary filmmaker’s dream.”


ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED, A THINKFilm and HBO Documentary Films release, is directed by Marina Zenovich, written by Zenovich, Joe Bini and P.G. Morgan, produced by Zenovich, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, and Lila Yacoub, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and Randy Wooten, with cinematography by Tanja Koop and editing by Bini.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon