The Pianist

Synopsis

Wladyslaw Szpilman, a brilliant Polish pianist, a New, escapes deportation.
Forced to live in the heart of the Warsaw ghetto, he shares the suffering, the humiliation and the struggles. He manages to escape and hides in the ruins of the capital. A German officer comes to his aid and helps him to survive.

Biography

Born in Paris to Polish parents, Roman Polanski and his mother and father moved back to their homeland just 2 years before WWII broke out. He survived the war and studied at the Krakow Art School and the Lodz Film School. He began his acting career at 14 and participated in the very popular radio show "The Merry Gang". As an adolescent, he played in the film THREE STORIES and acted in many different small parts in several Polish films one of which was Andrzej Wajda's A GENERATION. He was still a student when he completed his first short films "Two Men and a Wardrobe", (1958), "When Angels Fall (1959), "The Fat and the Lean (1961) and "Mammals" (1962) which all won awards at various festivals.
His feature KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962) earned him the Critics' Prize in Venice along with an Oscar nomination for best foreign film. REPULSION (1965) was his first film produced in England and it starred Catherine Deneuve. The film won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. His next film CUL-DE-SAC (1 966) earned him a Golden Bear. Roman Polanski then directed and acted in THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1 967). Soon alter, he went to the States to make ROSEMARY'S BABY (1 968) for which he was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay. In 1972, he returned to Europe to direct his adaptation of MACBETH which was co-written by Kenneth Tynan. The same year he produced "Weekend of a Champion" by Frank Simon, a documentary on the automobilist Jacky Stewart. The following year, he directed Marcello Mastroianni in WHAT?.
1974 marked his return to Hollywood. He directed CHINATOWN which won the Golden Globe and was nominated for 11 Oscars, including best film and best director. The film only snagged the award for best original script. In 1976, Roman Polanski made THE TENANT in Europe with Isabelle Adjani and Shelly Winters. He also had a part in the film as well. Three years later came TESS. The art-house film was nominated for 6 Oscars including best director and won for best photography, best artistic direction and best
costumes. Roman Polanski also won two C6sars (French Oscars) for the film for best direction and best film. In 1984, he wrote his autobiography, ''Roman by Polanski" which hit the best-seller list in several countries. In 1986, he mode PIRATES, a comedy adventure with Walter Matthau. His next film was FRANTIC (1987), a thriller with Harrison Ford. This was the first starring role for Emmanuelle Seigner who later played in BITTER MOON opposite Hugh Grant and Peter Coyote followed by THE NINTH GATE with Johnny Depp and Lena Olin. In 1994, he directed DEATH AND THE MAIDEN with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley. The film was an adaptation from a play by Ariel Dorfman.
In terms of theatre, Roman Polanski directed Alan Berg's opera "Lulu" at the Spoleto Festival, Verdi's "Rigoletto" at the Munich Opera and Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffman" at the Bastille Opera. In 1981, he directed and acted in Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" first in Warsaw and then in Paris. 1988 saw him playing the main role in Stephan Berkoff s adaptation of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". He also staged and directed the musical "Tanz der Vampire" in 1996 in Vienna with Jim Steinman's music and Michael Kunze's words based on "The Fearless Vampire Killers". Since then he has directed Terrence McNally's "Master Class" in Paris.
He has often acted in other directors' films. He shared the spotlight with G6rard Depardieu in Giuseppe Tornatore's film A PURE FORMALITY and played himself in Michel Blanc's DEAD TIRED. He has just completed Andrzej Wajda's film ZEMSTA.
In 1999, he was elected to the Academy of Beaux-Arts.

Filmography:

1962 KNIFE IN THE WATER
1965 REPULSION
1966 CUL-DE-SAC
1967 THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS OR PARDON ME, BUT YOUR TEETH ARE IN MY NECK actor
1968 ROSEMARY'S BABY
1971 MACBETH
1972 WHAT?
1974 CHINATOWN
1976 THE TENANT actor
1979 TESS
1986 PIRATES
1988 FRANTIC
1992 BITTER MOON
1994 DEATH AND THE MAIDEN director
1999 THE NINTH GATE
2002 THE PIANIST