Thanks, But No Thanks

Roman Polanski's nomination this week for Best Director once more raised the thorny question as to whether the director would be willing, or indeed able to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles. Polanski, who back in 1977 fled the States after being arrested for having sex with a 13 year old girl, hasn't been back since. And yesterday, the director's agent told the press that Polanski would not be on the guest list next month. 'He has no plans to come to the Unites States,' Jeff Berg said. 'He lives in Europe, and his home is there, and the legal issues are unresolved, and he has no plans for returning.' Polanski himself added to the statement saying, 'I am deeply honored by these nominations and regard them as a tribute to all those who made such fine contributions to The Pianist.' This is the second time that Polanski has been nominated for an Oscar since the incident. The first was in 1981 when he was nominated for Tess. A few years back there were rumours circulating that the director was going to cut a deal, enabling him to return to the States, but nothing happened and the local Prosecutor recently maintained that no such deal could be made because Polanski is a fugitive from the court, not part of an ongoing trial. "The court has to sentence [Polanksi], in some manner,' LA's District Attourney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons says, adding that a judge would have to decide whether Polanski would have to spend any more time in jail in addition to the 42 days he served back in the seventies.