Roman Polanski Nastassja Kinski Cannes - H 2012
Getty ImagesControversial film director Roman Polanski premiered his latest film, which turned out to be a commercial for the house of Prada, starting Helena Bonham Carter and Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley, at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the commercial, Kingsley plays a therapist and Bonham Carter is his pampered wealthy patient. She arrives at his office wearing a seductive lavender Prada fur coat.
PHOTOS: Cannes 2012 Opening Night Gala
Turns out Kingsley has a bit of a — how shall we put this? — a thing for fur. The kinky kicker is: “Prada Suits Everyone.” The amusing little short video was screened along with the restored version of Polanski’s 1979 film Tess. The director also brought along Nastassia Kinski, his former girlfriend and star of his adaptation of the classic Thomas Hardy novel.
Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux had tweeted on Sunday that Polanski would present a new film after the Tess screening to arouse curiousity, and it certainly worked. Polanski jokingly told reporters aftewards that it was “an anti-ad” and that he hoped to show the world that he is as good at making short films as he is long ones.
CANNES REVIEW: Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir
Earlier in the festival, a documentary by Laurent Bouzereau called Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir was screened out of competition. In the film, he talks about his childhood in Nazi-occupied Poland, his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate’s murder and the sexual assault case that caused him to flee the U.S. in 1978.
Word at Cannes is that Polanski’s next real film will be about the infamous French case of the Dreyfus affair. Or maybe it will be another short fashion anti-ad.