Judge rules Polanski must return to U.S. - Meanwhile he plans his next movie!
Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza has denied Roman Polanski's request for absentia, ordering the director to return to the U.S. where he is to be sentenced for his three decade old crime of having unlawful sex with then 13-year old Samantha Geiner. Espinoza's decision he claimed came; in defense of the integrity of the justice system" and that Polanski "needs to surrender. The ruling will of course be appealed by the filmmaker's lawyers. Polanski served 60 days in prison from Sep 27th - Dec 4th 09, and has spent the month and a half since under house arrest at his home in Switzerland. Polanski refuses to return to the U.S. according to his lawyer because "he does not trust this system." Amazingly, despite all all this - Polanski has been planning his next movie God of Carnage, a filmic adaptation of the 2009 Tony Award winning play whilst under house arrest. 
Written by French playwright Yasmina Reza, the dark comedy tells the story of two sets of parents, one of whose child has hurt the other at a public park. They meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner but as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish, resulting in the evening devolving into chaos. The meeting degenerates into the four getting into irrational arguments, and their discussion falls into the loaded topics of misogyny, racial prejudice and homophobia.The play is a kind of urban version of Mike Leigh's wonderful 1977 stage and screen production Abigail's Party. The Broadway production of the play from last March featured James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis - though of course Polanski won't have seen it for obvious reasons.
Nor will he have seen the Ralph Fiennes London production, but he probably is familiar with the play from 2008 Paris production starring Isabelle Huppert, who perhaps is favourite to feature in the movie. Despite the last four months, Polanski is still very much liked in the film community and he won't have trouble finding an impressive foursome in casting this one. That is if of course, he gets out of house arrest anytime soon and escapes U.S. jail. The upside of all this is that the extra publicity sure ain't doing any harm to Polanski's The Ghost Writer, the otherwise tricky to promote British PM thriller starring Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor which premieres at next year's Berlin Film Festival.