The Circuit

Notes from Peter Bart and Peter Guber's Monday morning Roman Polanski interview for Sunday Morning Shootout (with thanks to gerardmalanga.com for the photo): 

Polanski isn't in any rush to return to America. "I have very black memories of that town," he said, referring to the Los Angeles murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Charles Manson clan. The Vanity Fair libel suit (which he won) didn't help, either.

He still keeps tabs on Hollywood. "My connection is Variety." (Hey, he said it.)

Although sometimes he wonders why. "Most of (Hollywood moviemaking) is completely uninteresting to me," he said. "You see literally everything in the trailer. The marketing took over the art."

He misses the '70s. As to why that period was better for cinema, he said, "I'm asking this question of everyone around me and no one can give me a sensible answer," he said. "Everyone seemed happier then."
He's still planning to make "Pompeii." Sets are being build in Spain and Summit Entertainment is handling worldwide sales, but Polanski hasn't nailed down his leads. Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson have been rumored; Variety has also heard Matt Damon.

He likes his movies. Responding to Bart's comment that Polanski favors scenes that are long and "play out," Polanski replied, "Yes, because they're well directed."

He likes Brett Ratner. "I've never met someone with so much energy and force of conviction," he said of his "Rush Hour 3" director.

He likes making money in ways he never expected. His critically derided 1967 horror sex comedy, "Dance of the Vampires," is now in the 10th year of its run as a musical adaptation. Now in production in Berlin, it's also been produced in Vienna, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Tokyo, Budapest, Warsaw and (briefly) Broadway. (Click here to see the film's original MGM trailer along with the studio's script notes.) The full Polanski interview will be broadcast on AMC's Sunday Morning Shootout, which is producing an hour-long Cannes special.