Roman Polanski (born 1933) is a Polish-French filmmaker.
Filmography Feature films As director Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1962 Knife in the Water 1965 Repulsion 1966 Cul-de-sac 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers Original title: Dance of the Vampires 1968 Rosemary's Baby 1971 Macbeth 1972 What? Original title: Diary of Forbidden Dreams 1974 Chinatown 1976 The Tenant 1979 Tess 1986 Pirates 1988 Frantic 1992 Bitter Moon 1994 Death and the Maiden 1999 The Ninth Gate 2002 The Pianist 2005 Oliver Twist 2010 The Ghost Writer 2011 Carnage 2013 Venus in Fur 2017 Based on a True Story 2019 An Officer and a Spy 2023 The Palace
Writer only Year Original Title English Title Director Notes 1964Aimez-vous les femmes?A Taste for WomenJean Léon 1969 Downhill RacerMichael RitchieUncredited script revisions 1970 A Day at the BeachSimon HeseraAlso uncredited producer 1971Le Bateau sur l'herbeThe Boat on the GrassGérard Brach 1979 HurricaneJan TroellUncredited
Short films Student Year Original Polish Title English Title Director Writer Notes 1957MorderstwoA Murderer Usmiech zębicznyA Toothy Smile Rozbijemy zabawęBreak Up the Dance 1958Dwaj ludzie z szafąTwo Men and a Wardrobe 1959LampaThe Lamp Gdy spadają aniołyWhen Angels Fall Diploma film
Professional Year Original Title English Title Director Writer Producer Notes 1961 Le Gros et le Maigre The Fat and the Lean 1962 Ssaki Mammals 1964"La rivière de diamants""The Diamond River" segment from The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers2007"Cinéma erotique""Erotic Cinema" segment from To Each His Own Cinema
Advertisement Year Title Director Writer Notes2009Greed for Francesco Vezzoli 2012A Therapy for Prada
Acting roles Year Title Role Notes 1953 Trzy opowieści Genek 'The Little' aka Three Stories;segment "Jacek" 1955 Zaczarowany rower Adas aka Magical Bicycle Pokolenie Mundek aka A Generation 1956 Nikodem Dyzma Boy at Hotel1957 Wraki aka The Wrecks Koniec nocy Little One aka End of the Night 1958 Dwaj ludzie z szafą Bad boy aka Two Men and a Wardrobe Zadzwońcie do mojej żony? Dancer aka Call My Wife 1959 Gdy spadają anioły Old woman aka When Angels Fall Lotna Musician 1960 Zezowate szczęście Jola's Tutor aka Bad Luck Do widzenia, do jutra Romek aka Good Bye, Till Tomorrow Niewinni czarodzieje Dudek "Polo" aka Innocent Sorcerers1961 Ostrożnie, Yeti! aka Beware of Yeti! Le Gros et le maigre The Lean aka The Fat and the Lean Samson 1962 Nóż w wodzie “Young Boy” voice aka Knife in the Water 1965 Repulsion Spoon Player 1967 The Fearless Vampire Killers Alfred, Abronsius' Assistant 1969 The Magic Christian Solitary drinker 1972 What? Mosquito 1974 Chinatown Man with Knife 1976 Blood for Dracula Man in Tavern Locataire, Le Trelkovsky aka The Tenant 1982 Chassé-croisé 1989 En attendant Godot Lucky TV movie 1992 Back in the USSR Kurilov 1994 Una pura formalità Police commissioner aka A Pure Formality Grosse fatigue Himself aka Dead Tired 2000 Hommage à Alfred aka Tribute to Alfred Lepetit 2002 Zemsta Papkin aka The Revenge 2007 Rush Hour 3 Detective Revi 2008 Caos calmo Steiner aka Quiet Chaos 2019 An Officer and a Spy A Listener at a Concert Uncredited
Unfulfilled and developed projects Untitled Victor Lustig biopic: When Polanski and Gérard Brach met in the early 1960s, they worked on a story about the man who sold the Eiffel Tower – Victor Lustig. Polanski wanted to visit the location to conduct research, but Brach refused.
Waiting for Godot: Before he made Cul-de-sac (1966), Polanski proposed a film adaptation of Waiting for Godot to playwright Samuel Beckett, who politely refused to allow it. Beckett insisted that the play was not cinematic material and that an adaptation would destroy it. Despite this, a 1971 NY Times profile indicated that Polanski "yearns to film Waiting for Godot."
Downhill Racer:
A Perfect Day: After the success of Rosemary's Baby (1968), Polanski considered adapting another Ira Levin novel to film; the science fiction story of This Perfect Day.
Paganini: Another possibility following Rosemary's Baby was a biographical film on the Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini. It was indicated at the time that Polanski was drawn to stories about "real, equally fascinating people of the 19th century." Paramount Pictures was the studio behind the project. "Paganini has been an obsession with me for almost 15 years," Polanski told the NY Times in 1969. "I'm working on the script now with Ennio De Concini. We'll stress Paganini's amazing character so full of contradictions." With the film, Polanski particularly aimed to capture the "devilishness" and "virtuosity" behind Paganini—unseen in any previous films—as well as his "constant conflict with society, the church, kings, fellow artists and the many women who fell in love with this physically ugly man." Principal photography was estimated to commence in late 1969, with locations in Italy, France and Austria. However, as result of the unseen tragedy of the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate, Polanski effectively shelved any plans he had for the film.
Donner Pass: At the same time as Paganini, Polanski was preparing, and pursuing concepts for, a retelling of the ill-fated Donner Party, a group of Western pioneers who were forced to resort to cannibalism to survive when they became trapped in the snowbound Sierras. The project was titled Donner Pass, and was to have also been released by Paramount. Ivan Moffat worked on the screenplay. In early 1969, Polanski detailed his vision to the NY Times: "It will tell the story of a group of educated people facing the ultimate test of character. What interests me is showing how far such people can go before they break or don’t break—when the moment of truth hits them." He eventually deciding to film Robert Merle's novel The Day of the Dolphin for the screen as his follow-up to Rosemary's Baby; these plans too were thwarted in the wake of Sharon Tate's death.
Day of the Dolphin:
Untitled Mexico-set film: With the arrest of his wife's murderer, Charles Manson, Polanski left Los Angeles and agreed to an unnamed film in Mexico. Friends of the director said he half‐heartedly worked on the project. Nevertheless, it soon fell apart, and Polanski eventually selected Macbeth (1971) to be his next film.
Papillon: In early 1970, when the film rights to Henri Charrière's novel Papillon were purchased by Walter Reade's Continental Distributing Inc., Polanski was reportedly set to direct the adaptation, with Warren Beatty starring. The role eventually went to Steve McQueen, who was cast alongside Dustin Hoffman in the resulting 1973 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
White Dog:
The First Deadly Sin: In 1976, a deal was struck with Columbia Pictures for Polanski to adapt and direct Lawrence Sander's police procedural The First Deadly Sin. This too, like Day of the Dolphin, had to be scrapped after Polanski agreed to a plea bargain wherein he admitted to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, agreed to psychiatric evaluation and expected to be released on probation. Though Columbia halted development of The First Deadly Sin, Dino De Laurentiis subsequently came to Polanski with a proposed remake of John Ford's The Hurricane (1937).
Moon Trap: After The Missouri Breaks (1976), star Jack Nicholson wanted to make another Western, and to reunite with Polanski following their work on Chinatown (1975). He offered Polanski a project he adapted called Moon Trap, based on the novel by Don Berry. Though he agreed to direct, Nicholson dropped it when the director was arrested on a child molestation charge in 1977. Following rewrites by Alan Sharp, Nicholson later sought to direct the film himself, with reported efforts made in 1985 and 1998, to no avail.
The Hurricane:
Handcarved Coffins: In the early 1980s, Polanski was said to have considered making the film of "Handcarved Coffins", a novella from the collection Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, with Lester Persky producing.
Schindler's List: Years prior to making The Pianist (2002), Polanski had wanted to make a film on the subject of the Holocaust and his youth, and, in the mid-1980s, was offered by Steven Spielberg the chance to direct an adaptation of Schindler's Ark. "[It was] a very generous offer but not right for me," said Polanski. Spielberg ultimately directed the story himself as Schindler's List (1993).
Untitled Cannon Films project: Also in the mid-1980s, after picking up Pirates (1986) for distribution, Cannon advertised that they were producing an upcoming project to be directed by Polanski. It never came to fruition. In print ads, it was billed simply as "A Roman Polanski Film", with no further details listed.
The Adventures of Tintin: In the late 1980s, Polanski became attached to a proposed film adapting the Adventures of Tintin comics, after Steven Spielberg initially left the project, dissatisfied with the scripts at the time. However, Polanski quickly abandoned the idea as well, later stating that the "actors and natural settings could not work as well as comics." Spielberg would eventually return to the helm later on his career with The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011), produced using motion capture technology.
M. Butterfly: In 1988, Daily Variety named Polanski as among those interested in taking the helm of a feature film version of David Henry Hwang's play M. Butterfly, following the show's successful Broadway debut. Others who expressed interest included Warren Beatty, David Brown, Miloš Forman, and Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
The Master and Margarita: In 1989, Polanski adapted and was set to film a version of Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, set in Communist Moscow; a novel he said he "was born to direct". The project was dropped by Warner Bros. due to budgetary concerns and the studio's belief that the subject matter was no longer relevant after to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Polanski since described his script as the best he had ever adapted.
Mary Reilly:
Sliver: In the early 1990s, Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown producer Robert Evans sought Polanski as the director of a film based on Sliver by Ira Levin, adapted by Joe Eszterhas. The film's New York setting was considered being relocated to Paris in order to accommodate Polanski, since he could not return to the United States. According to his autobiography, Evans broached having a second unit director shoot some footage of New York, while Polanski could direct the majority of the film from Paris.
The Island of Dr. Moreau: Around 1993–94, unbeknownst to director Richard Stanley, Polanski was set in place by executives at New Line Cinema to helm The Island of Dr. Moreau when Marlon Brando first became attached star. Stanley protested this decision, and won out—though he would ultimately by replaced, by John Frankenheimer.Gregory, David (director) (2014). Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (documentary film). Severin Films.
Cinderella: According to a 1994 Los Angeles Times profile on screenwriter Gérard Brach, he and Polanski had recently completed a version of Cinderella. This marked their eleventh script collaboration together.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: In 1995, Robert Evans and Polanski were in talks to collaboratively reunite on a new version of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, with Polanski directing and Evans producing. "I know [Polanski] can add an even more bizarre telling of the Oscar Wilde story," Evans told Daily Variety at the time. "We can make it very scary — and use the new technology in addition."