The mere mention of Roman Polanski's name sparks argument in many arenas, but here's a reality check: The Polanski presence is not about to disappear. A case in point: At a moment when anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world, Polanski's latest film, An Officer and a Spy, will be receiving major attention as a…

Roman Polanski’s wife criticized writer/director Quentin Tarantino on Friday for not consulting with her husband on his new film, which features the tragic story of the murder of Polanski’s ex-wife, Sharon Tate. Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood just debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews…

As of 3:36 p.m. Cannes Film Festival Time on Saturday–6:36 a.m. as time is reckoned here in Los Angeles– the online case records of the Los Angeles County Superior Court still showed no sign of a response by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Roman Polanski's demand for reinstatement as an Academy…

UPDATE 3:23 PM: If Roman Polanski and his legal representatives thought the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was going to hand back his membership quickly after he took the Oscar organization to court today, they were incorrect. “The procedures taken to expel Mr. Polanski were fair and reasonable,” an…

The voices on the phone were more like whispers. It was as if no one could give full voice to the dreaded news. "I'm locking the doors and pulling down the blinds," said one caller, a top film director. "It's like a doomsday scenario." Fifty years ago, Hollywood was frozen by news of the Charles Manson murders, a dark…

Witold Sobocinski, a Polish cinematographer who worked with countrymen including Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Zanussi and also was a celebrated jazz musician and a teacher at Lodz Film School, has died. He was 89. Lodz announced the news but did not give details. Sobocinski was one of the first…

Continuing to reverberate: the stunning take-down of director James Gunn by conservative journalists who bared years-old disgusting tweets that got Gunn ostracized from Disney’s Marvel Comics Universe. His banishment from returning for a third Guardians of the Galaxy film prompted this response from Dave Bautista, the…

Saturday May 18. The 1968 Cannes Film Festival was about to enter its second week when a press conference was called for 10AM in the Jean Cocteau Theater at the old Palais Croisette. Just a few yards down the road, a budding starlet was preparing to hold court on the beach, imagining she would make headlines with her…

Less than a week after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences publicly kicked out Bill Cosby and  Roman Polanski from its membership, the Oscar winning director says he'll take the group to court unless he's reinstated or gets to defend himself. “I am writing this letter to you to avoid unnecessary…

Inevitably, Hollywood's Great Awakening caught up with Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski on Tuesday night, as the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel the two in keeping with the group's new ethical conduct rules. Cosby, just convicted on sexual assault charges, may have been the…

He remains a fugitive from American justice over the rape of a minor in the 1970s, but Roman Polanski intends to battle being kicked out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, claims the Oscar winner's attorney – and he'll use the organization's own Standards of Conduct to do so. The movie academy however…

The issue of crime and punishment shouldn't be too toxic for rational discussion, but I find this is becoming the case. And this is wrong, because decision time is looming – albeit a decision no one is eager to make. Over the course of the past year the careers of many prominent figures have collapsed amidst the newly…