“I don’t understand, why should I be punished for that penchant that I had for young women?” Roman Polanski asks Diane Sawyer in this rare 1994 TV interview. It’s still a very provocative question, and this unearthed conversation with Sawyer from 1994 — his first TV interview in a decade at the time — follows the civil suit filed by Samantha Geimer in 1993 which he settled, and comes on the eve of the release of “Bitter Moon.” It’s a pretty fascinating time capsule of the perception of Polanski at the time.
While the subsequent years have thoroughly hashed out his story thanks to documentaries like “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” “Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out” and “Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir” (our review) this is an interesting look at a filmmaker, who delves into his painful family history and remains candid about what happened in that house in 1977 and more. It’s pretty fascinating stuff, so give it a watch below. [The Richest]