Roman Polanski to Tackle Dreyfuss Affair with ‘D’

Perhaps the threat of being sent back to America has reinvigorated Roman Polanski, as he's now setting up his next film 'D.' The film would tell the true life story of the Dreyfuss affair, where a man was wrongly imprisoned for twelve years for trading secrets, while the man who thought he was framed - and eventually freed him - was also charged with crimes he didn't commit.

Regardless of one's feelings about Polanski as a man, this subject matter is perfect for the filmmaker. The existential crises of being imprisoned has been a motif throughout his career. From the trap of being pregnant in 'Rosemary's Baby,' to hiding from the Nazis in 'The Pianist,' to the prison of an island in 'Cul-de-Sac,' up to being unable to leave an argument in 'Carnage,' this material is tailor-made for the director.

He would also be re-teaming with screenwriter Robert Harris - according to The Hollywood Reporter - who wrote 'The Ghost Writer' for the director. At this rate it feels like the director should follow it with an adaptation of Franz Kafka's 'The Trial,' though that would involve stepping in Orson Welles's footprints. The Dreyfuss affair was made previous into a Cable TV movie with Richard Dreyfuss, though - perhaps to avoid being too cute - Dreyfuss played Col. Piquard, the man who investigated the false imprisonment.