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Roman Polanski

Gone back to the roots

by 

- Director´s childhood in The pianist, the story of a musician who survived the Nazi persecution in Warsaw

The pianist [+see also:
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is a drama based on the life story of a Polish Jew called Wladysaw Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody). He was a musician who survived the Nazi persecution in Warsaw. Szpilmzn, who was a virtuoso pianist, was playing a Chopin nocturne at the Polish National Radio Station when the recording studio was hit by a bomb. Szpilman then went on the run, to escape persecution, for six years. He managed to survive with the help of a German officer, Wilm Hosenfeld. In some ways, Szpilman´s life story is similar to Polanski´s. When Polanski was a child, he managed to escape from the Jewish ghetto in Krakow, although his parents were deported. The pianist was produced by Frenchman Alain Sarde and Robert Benmussa.

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Did you draw on your own experience for this film?
Obviously, I used what I could remember of that time, but I was a child.The pianist is not really a very personal film. Szpilman´s life story perfectly reflects how much I wanted to find material I could identify with - but not too much. I´ve always wanted to make a film about that time. I think that the most important feature of this film is that it is faithful to the truth.

Why has it taken you so long to talk about your own country
People often ask me that. I could never find the right kind of material for making a film about Poland. I would now find it difficult to make a film that sought only to entertain.

Was it painful for you to remember that time in your life and talk about it
It was worse when I was preparing the film than when I was actually making it. I worked with Ronald Harwood on the screenplay for six months and I felt really sad the whole time. For the rest of the time I was tired out because of all the phone calls at 1.00 am and the problems with production and the make-up schedule.

Szpilman was saved by a Nazi ...
That´s true. There were good and bad Jews and good and bad Germans. That´s what I liked most about Szpilman´s autobiography.

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