How'd They Get Away with THAT?

[londonstill]

I can't believe that Sean Connery has gotten away with saying that women sometimes need a slap to calm them down or keep them in line. According to his second wife he was violent yet he's considered a great sex symbol and that stuff is rarely mentioned.

[newnewyorker]

Roman Polanski hasn't been extradited from France(?)

This is from a really really long time ago, but I just wanted to point out that the fact that Polanski hasn't been extradited doesn't mean anything. France doesn't extradite French citizens.

[Shalamar]

The system works occasionally, thank goodness. When Gerard Depardieu blithely confessed in an interview that he and his buddies used to rape girls all the time back in France, it pretty much killed his career.

[jaghetersimon]

Killed his career in America, you mean? Because he's still a huge star in France and makes movies all the time.

[bklynred]

Aug 9, 2008 13:50:14 GMT -4 Shalamar said:

The system works occasionally, thank goodness. When Gerard Depardieu blithely confessed in an interview that he and his buddies used to rape girls all the time back in France, it pretty much killed his career.

Did he really? Is this interview somewhere online somewhere? That's heinous.

[wallflower]

This is what IMDB (I know, grain of salt) has to say:

"Time magazine ran a profile that mistakenly suggested that Depardieu might have "participated" in a rape at the age of nine. The claim was based on an interview carried out 13 years earlier and was the result of an incorrect translation. Depardieu is now careful about proper translation."

Which... doesn't really clear anything up, except the fact that he was very young at the time.

Hmmm... Here's more info...

[blue]Link.[/blue]

[bklynred]

Thanks for link, wallflower.

[normadesmond]

If I recall correctly, Depardieu said something about "rough sex" that got mistranslated as "rape". Apparently the word in French (whatever it was) was ambiguous.

I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be dumb enough to go around bragging about rape. I think that would be considered just as offensive in France as America.

Here's one I don't get: Woody Allen. How is it in movie after movie he gets big name stars to appear? He hasn't had a hit in decades, and his movies aren't even funny or smart anymore. Most of them get even worse reviews than box office.

What I especially don't get is why one beautiful actress after another jumps at the chance for this old lech to perv over them. What do ScarJo, Charlize, Uma and so many others get out of this? He doesn't pay well, he doesn't allow any of them to read the complete script, only their little slice of it (disrespectful to actors IMHO: doesn't see them as true collaborators, but more like Santa's workshop elves), and his humor is mean-spirited and misogynistic. Long gone are the days of Annie Hall. It's frightening how many of his movies have the same basic plot: the put-upon, long-suffering hero (or some male character) snuffs out some nails-on-chalkboard bitch who's become a dead weight dragging him down. Crimes & Misdemeanors. Bullets Over Broadway. Match Point.. Same story told three ways.

(Interesting side note: Kate Winslet originally accepted ScarJo's part in Match Point but bowed out. Sure, sure, she cited family/personal reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason is she got creeped out by the misogynist script and got cold feet.)

[Deleted]

If anyone ever figures that out, I'd love to know. Why that talentless perverted creep is still allowed to waste millions of dollars making his crappy movies is beyond me.

[clementine74]

Hm. I'm torn on Woody. I ADORE some of his movies, and despise others. Personally, yeah, a total douche. But I do find myself loving the good movies so much that I hope the next movie he makes will live up to some past triumph. Then it never does.
I thought Match Point was pretty entertaining, and thought both male and female lead characters were despicable.