Polanski faces weeks in Swiss jail

Court considers director's formal appeal

By MARC GRASER, ERIK KIRSCHBAUM

Polanski

Roman Polanski could spend at least the next several weeks in jail as a Swiss court studies an appeal filed Tuesday by the director's attorneys to prevent his extradition to the U.S.

The Swiss Federal Penal Court confirmed in a statement on its website that Polanski's lawyers had appealed his arrest at Zurich Airport on a U.S. extradition warrant Saturday, a day before he was to be honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Zurich Film Festival.

A "decision will be made within the next few weeks after an exchange of written motions," the court said. "Because this is an ongoing case, there will be no further information provided."

A Swiss Justice Ministry official had said on Monday it was unlikely that Polanski would be released on bail.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has considered Polanski a fugitive since 1978, when he fled the country after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The U.S. now has up to 60 days to formalize an extradition request following Polanski's arrest.

Whatever happens -- whether Polanski remains in Europe or faces a judge in the U.S. -- it will be documented in a new film that Brett Ratner plans to produce as a sequel to the docu "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," which made the rounds of the festival circuit last year before getting picked up by HBO.

Ratner, who cast Polanski in a cameo in "Rush Hour 3," will work with "Wanted and Desired" director Marina Zenovich to produce the sequel "because so much has happened because of that film," he said. Ratner said Polanski is expected to appear in the pic. Zenovich is in Zurich now to work on the follow up.

"He has a great life, a great family. This case has just been going on too long, and it's just ridiculous," Ratner told Movie Geeks United in the latest installment of its director series, set to stream online Oct. 4 and recorded before Polanski's arrest.

Ratner is among the dozens filmmakers in Hollywood demanding Polanski's release.

French entertainment industry org Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques claimed that more than 100 filmmakers, writers and thesps -- including Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson, Jonathan Demme, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Tilda Swinton and Tom Tykwer -- had signed a petition demanding that Polanski be freed.

But not everyone is backing Polanski.

The Directors Guild of America has so far declined to comment on Polanski's arrest.

And Luc Besson, who considers Polanski a friend, said the director should return to the U.S. and pay the penalty for his crime.

"I have a lot of affection for him," Besson said in an interview with RTL radio. "He is a man that I like very much, but nobody should be above the law. I think that when you don't show up for trial, you are taking a risk."

For now, Polanski's future hinges on the Swiss court's decision on the extradition.

Polanski, who has dual French and Polish citizenship, told a French diplomat who visited him in jail on Monday that he was being treated well in prison.

French consul general Jean-Luc Faure-Tournaire added that the 76-year-old director appreciated all the support he had been receiving from around the world.

"He thanks the many people who have expressed their support for him," the French consulate in Zurich said in a statement after Faure-Tournaire had visited him.

His French lawyer Herve Temime told reporters in Paris: "It's a big shock for him, for his wife and for his children. But the support from around the world is giving him strength."