Polanski - who is unable to return to the United States, after pleading to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than 40 years ago - will direct ‘J’Accuse’, which begins shooting in Paris later this year. The news of Roman Polanski ’s new film has not gone down well on social media, with many branding the project a tone-deaf move, following the rise of the ‘Me Too’ movement. The film tells the story of The Dreyfus Affair, in which French-Jewish soldier Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused of spying for the Germans in the 1890s. Talk of the project first began as far back as 2012, when Polanski told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival that the story, centring around “the age-old spectacle of the witch hunt”, was “absolutely relevant” in contemporary society. However, following the news that the wheels were now in motion for ‘J’Accuse’, many have suggested that a film centring around a high-profile case of false allegation, directed by a man still on the run from the US over a sex crime he pleaded guilty to, was not a film that needed to be made post-‘Me Too’…

Source: Huffington Post September 29, 2018 08:37 UTC