THE timing of Roman Polanski‘s arrest in Switzerland on Sunday on a 31-year-old rape conviction couldn’t have been better for Brett Ratner.
Hours before Polanski was busted in Zurich, Ratner taped an interview for BlogTalkRadio’s “Movie Geeks United” show and announced he’ll be producing a sequel to Marina Zenovich‘s 2008 documentary, “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.”
“The family has forgiven [Polanski]. The victim has forgiven him. The rest of the world has forgiven him,” said Ratner, who cast Polanski as a French detective in his movie “Rush Hour 3.” “The LA judicial system is corrupt. It’s horrible.”
Polanski — who directed “Repulsion,” “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby” — fled the US in 1977 after admitting to drugging and then raping then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer at the Mulholland Canyon house of Jack Nicholson. Geimer, who now lives in Hawaii, has repeatedly said she doesn’t want Polanski jailed.
Polanski himself didn’t appear in Zenovich’s film, but Ratner said on Movie Geeks United that he’d “agreed to participate” in the sequel.
“Marina screened the movie at my house, and I invited Roman’s friends, like Bob Evans and Warren Beatty,” Ratner said. “A bunch of his friends came to see the movie before Roman even saw it. He wanted it to be an honest depiction of what happened. And I think Marina did a brilliant job.”
Since fleeing the US, Polanski, 76, has lived in France with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, and their two children. In a statement, his Paris-based lawyer Herve Temime said Polanski will fight possible extradition back to the States, saying, “He is in a fighting mood and determined to defend himself.”
Ratner did not respond to repeated requests for comment via his publicist.