I would work with Polanski again: Sigourney Weaver

Actress Sigourney Weaver, who worked with Roman Polanski in the 1994 drama "Death and the Maiden", says she would work again with the filmmaker, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor in 1977.

Amid the #MeToo wave which began in Hollywood, more accusations have come out against Polanski.

In an interview for The Hollywood Reporter, Weaver was asked if she regrets working with Polanski at all.

She said: "I don't know about more accusations. I didn't really get a chance to read a paper frankly. No, I mean I have to say that having lived a little bit in the 1970s that, obviously what he did was wrong. He admitted his guilt because the judge was going to throw the book at him. But, it's still unresolved.

"I have to say, looking back, and I wasn't really in Hollywood then, but things that I would hear, it was a much different time and that's no excuse for what he did at all but all I'm saying is it stands out more now than it did at the time because people were desperate to be in movies and I think it's unimaginable now for a mother to drop off a 13-year-old with someone like Roman.

"The story we were telling was a very personal story. He had been the accused, he had been the victim in Poland and he been the absolutely helpless husband. So, I felt that a lot of what his feelings about this issue were going right into this film, ('Death and the Maiden')."

Weaver pointed out that Polanski has changed his life and is now taking a plunge into a new film, for which he was getting flak.

"He's doing this film about the Dreyfus affair, a very important story to tell. Apparently he's getting some push back about that. It's tricky, but I learned a lot from Roman, and I loved the experience of telling one continuous story so that we would run the movie up until that point of the scene we were doing that day. Obviously, I think it's exactly what #MeToo is about. As sisters and mothers and daughters, we are all aligned so that this kind of thing, putting a young girl in harm's way, just simply wouldn't happen."

Would she work with him again?

"Yes, I think I would. To be quite honest I think I would. He's now happily married; he has two children. I'm sure that he and the children have had some interesting conversations about it. He pleaded guilty. Does he regret it? I'm sure he does.

"The #MeToo movement asks that we listen to those who've experienced sexual harassment or assault - really listen. So when Roman's victim asks us all to move on with understanding and compassion, I choose to listen to her," Weaver told The Hollywood Reporter.

Polanski, 84, has been a fugitive since he fled to France in 1978 on the eve of sentencing in an unrelated case for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He splits his time between France, his native Poland and Switzerland.

--IANS

rb/mr