Controversial Oscar winning filmmaker Roman Polanski is back in a big way. He will direct “J’Accuse” with Oscar winner Jean duJardin as the little known espionage officer who proved that the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus had been wrongly accused of spying for the Germans in 1894.
This will be maybe the last epic film for Polanski, who has spent the last twenty years making smaller films. He’s wanted to make a movie based on “The Dreyfus Affair” for years.
The French title of the film — the working title in English is “The Dreyfus Affair” — comes from the famous open letter written by novelist Emile Zola in support of the captain, lambasting the French government for its anti-Semitism.
After Zola defended Dreyfus, he was forced into exile in England for a decade.
The film will be in French, with actor Louis Garrel playing Dreyfus, and will also much awarded actor Mathieu Amalric (“Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) and Polanski’s wife Emmanuelle Seigner.
Will this be a late career masterpiece for Polanski? I think so.
