Some of Hollywood's biggest stars have rallied around jailed film director Roman Polanski US authorities seek to extradite the 76-year-old, so he can face charges of raping a minor. Photo Credit: Splash NewsSeptember 30, 2009, (Splash News) - Some of Hollywood's biggest stars have rallied around jailed film director Roman Polanski US authorities seek to extradite the 76-year-old, so he can face charges of raping a minor.
Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg have all signed petitions calling for Polanski's release from a Swiss prison after he was arrested at the weekend after over 30 years trying to dodge sentencing for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.
In 1978, Polanski was charged with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor.
The charges were later dropped as part of a plea bargain, with the director admitting to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor, before he skipped the country.
Polanski's supporters – who include moviemakers David Lynch, Michael Mann, Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam, producer Harvey Weinstein and actress Monica Bellucci – claim he only fled the US because he believed prosecutors were going to renege on a deal that would leave him free.
The director's victim, Samantha Geimer, who provided a chilling testimony of the assault in her deposition, has publicly said that she is willing to forgive Polanski and feels that she is being victimized by his arrest.
"She feels bad for him," Geimer's cousin Adam Geimer said.
"They could have arrested him at any time. I think they should just drop it."
Roman Polanski's former sister-in-law, Debra Tate, the sister of Polanski's second wife, actress Sharon Tate, has defended the jailed director as a "good guy" and said he should not be behind bars. Sharon was murdered in Los Angeles, in 1969, by followers of Charles Manson, while she was eight months' pregnant – called Polanski a brilliant director when she appeared on NBC's Today Show this morning.
And she insisted that Polanski did not forcibly have sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, calling it a "consensual matter".
"Roman is a brilliant director there is no disputing that, he is also a philanthropist and helps many other people get a foothold in the business," said Tate.
"There was a deal made back in the '70s that Roman would undergo evaluation and spend four months in jail, he did that and was evaluated not to be a pedophile and there is rape and then there is rape… I am a victims' advocate and I know the difference."
Tate also insisted that Polanski would not get a fair trial in California, and that the case should be settled in France, where he now lives.
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