Published on October 16, 2005

Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski has delivered a strong message about the dilemma between loyalty and virtue with his adaptation of “Oliver Twist”, the story of an orphan boy who falls in with a gang of pickpockets. The film opened the Third World Film Festival on Friday night at the Royal Chalermkrung Theatre.

Though his latest film is aimed at adults, Polanski wanted to remake David Lean’s classic 1948 film version of Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” as a film his children could see and enjoy.

“[My children] sometimes come to the set, they know what I’m doing. They live around all that, but the result of all my efforts is something so remote from their world they can’t identify with it,” said the 72-year-old director, who spoke to more than 50 reporters at a press conference at the Sukhothai Hotel yesterday.

Polanksi said that the blockbuster “Spider-Man” was the kind of movie his children enjoyed. “‘Spider-Man’ is a nice movie, but I’d like to show my children there’s another way of making movies,” he added.

Polanski’s seven-year-old son Elvis and 12-year-old daughter Morgane each have a cameo in his latest film. Elvis plays a little rich boy who loses his hoop to the gang of young pickpockets, while Morgane plays a girl at the door of a cottage where Oliver, played by Barney Clark, begs for food.

Although “Oliver Twist” is a dark movie, the message is easy for children to understand, said the director. The story’s main protagonist is a 10-year-old orphan who is victimised by poverty, kidnapped and almost seduced by a life of crime. In the end, he becomes a hero with the promise of a career as a writer. “It’s a realistic film of a kind of holocaust, which kids have to learn about,” he said.

With a budget of US$45 million (Bt1.8 billion), “Oliver Twist” is the director’s most expensive film to date. Much of the money was spent on recreating the streets of Dickensian London in the suburbs of Prague. Polanski said it was interesting working with Prague’s movie-industry professionals and the sets fit perfectly with his film.

Polanski worked closely with costume designers and make-up artists as well as his actors, including Ben Kingsley as the criminal Fagin, to achieve an authentic look.

During the past 15 years he has seen some good Thai films, Polanski said, but he found many Chinese, Japanese and Korean films to be more interesting. He noted that Korean films were of a particularly high standard.

After “Oliver Twist”, Polanksi is uncertain about his next project, though he said he preferred to work in the theatre.

He described Thailand as a unique country with people who are quick to smile. The director has warm feelings for the Kingdom as he has many friends here, including National Artist Dr Sumet Jumsai, businessman Rolf Eberhard von Buren, and Bangkok senator and HIV/Aids activist Mechai Viravaidya.

Polanksi once came to Yaowaraj in Chinatown to help Mechai distribute condoms to local people.

More than 600 festival-goers and an army of press attended the opening night of the Third World Film Festival, attracted by Polanski’s fame and the Thailand debut of his impressive new film.

Phatarawadee Phataranawik

The Nation

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