He experienced evil as a child. He was suspected of a morbid fascination with the crime. He was keen to use occult themes in his movies, but many suspected that he was also privately involved with dark powers. Did he really sacrifice his wife and unborn son to the devil in exchange for success? Or is it just a nasty rumor?
Roman Polański was born in Paris, but his parents moved to Krakow when he was four. Two years later, the war broke out and the Jewish family had to move to the ghetto. He saw death and cruelty as a child and fought desperately to survive. Atheism in adulthood was a consequence of these experiences. The director in one of the interviews said that he did not identify evil with Satan, but considered it to be part of human nature.
In his autobiography entitled "Roman by Polański" he said:"the whole idea of Rosemary's Baby it was at odds with my rational vision of the world. " He also repeatedly emphasized that he did not believe in the occult or in Satan. The devil on the big screen was for him only an "entertainment element". And yet the extraordinary popularity that Polański owes to "Rosemary's Baby" and his immediate elevation to the status of the most sought-after Hollywood director sound like a fairy tale story. Rumor had it that his great streak was the result of ... a pact he made with the devil.
The curse falls on Polański
The story of an innocent woman who falls victim to a satanic sect, adapted to a silver screen from a novel by Ira Levin, has become a cult film today. It brought Polański a huge box office success, earning thirty million dollars in the US and twice as much in the world. However, the strange events and deaths involving "Rosemary's Baby" seem more terrible than the story itself.
There was even talk of a curse. It affected the film crew and people close to the director. Producer William Castle died of a heart attack shortly after filming was completed - perhaps his heart could not stand the death threats he received for "bringing evil to Earth."
Divorce, the death of three children and the betrayal of a partner with his own daughter. Is it all because of the pact with the devil Polański?
Mia Farrow, playing Rosemary, was first abandoned by her Catholic husband who filed for divorce, later three of her adopted children died, and the daughter ran away with her mother's partner, Woody Allen.
Paramount Pictures' production manager Robert Evans survived three heart attacks and was charged with murder, almost ruining his career. The composer Krzysztof Komeda died as a result of an accident. Finally, the neo-Renaissance building in which the married couple lived in films became the scene of a tragedy - John Lennon, a regular guest at the parties organized by Polański's wife, Sharon Tate, was shot dead in the entrance gate.
She herself was murdered. There have been rumors of a curse on the director, but other hypotheses have also emerged, including one about devilish deals. As Polański himself recalls in his autobiography "Roman by Polański":
"Immediately after the discovery of the massacre, the media turned over to Hollywood rumors and began fabricating all sorts of versions of orgies, drug banquets and black magic sessions. (...) It was argued that Sharon and those murdered with her were responsible for their deaths because they indulged in sinister practices and fellowshipped with the wrong people. "
Manson collects devil's debt
If the director did sell his soul, he couldn't have asked for a better life. He could pick from the best scenarios, partying with the most prominent members of the society at the time, traveling around the world. He finally married the beautiful actress Sharon Tate nominated for the Golden Globe.
On August 9, 1969, while Rosemary's Baby was still being played in American cinemas, twenty-six-year-old Sharon, nine months pregnant, and her friends were partying at a villa in Beverly Hills where she lived with her husband. Polański was then in London.
The crime committed that August night in Polański's house is shocking to this day. Soon after the bodies were found, on the morning of August 9, 1969, an extensive photo report was published in Time magazine. Five bodies were found at the crime scene, including pregnant Sharon Tate. There was a rope around her neck that connected her to another victim. However, she did not die as a result of suffocation - her body bore the marks of multiple, brutal stabs.
Roman Polański and Sharon Tate met on the set of "The Fearless Vampire Slayers".
In the photo taken a week after the murder, Polański is sitting shaken on the porch spattered with blood. Intoxicated with sedatives, he stares fixedly ahead, and the word "PIG" written in blood is still visible on the open door to his house.
The media lived for a time at the crimes committed by the followers of the Manson sect, publishing more and more articles about the causes of the murder and the network of interconnections. Polański and his wife were suspected of having connections with Satanism, occultism and witchcraft. The news that a former follower of the Church of Satan turned out to be one of the women who participated in the murder became water for the tabloid mill. It was emphasized that the director of films full of diabolical threads, sex and violence finally "got it for his".
How did the supporters of the theory of dealing with the devil explain the death of the director's wife and unborn child? He would do similarly to the main character of "Rosemary's Baby", Guy, who sacrificed his wife and child to Satan in exchange for an acting career. Manson's followers simply took the debt. One of the cult members involved in Sharon Tate's murder, Ted Watson, was said to have said to the dying victims, “I am the devil. I have a devil's job to do. ”
Charles Manson, Sharon Tate's killer is still in prison.
The Scandalist finds love
In his autobiography, Polański recalls saying goodbye to his wife, who changed her mind at the last minute and decided to give birth to their child in the States. He stayed in London with the irrational feeling that they were seeing each other for the last time. As we read in the director's autobiography:
She put her arms around me and hugged me with her belly, something she had never done before, as if she wanted to remind me of the existence of a baby. As I held her in my arms, an absurd thought flashed through me:I'll never see her again. If nothing had happened, I would probably have forgotten that feeling - but it stayed with me for the rest of my life.
Roman Polański on August 30, 1989, he married the French actress Emmanuelle Seigner.
Polański was unable to recover for a long time after the tragedy in which he lost his family. Once asked how long it took him to regain his mental balance, he replied that it took many years. Shortly after the murder, he met with a fellow psychiatrist who said he needed at least four years of mourning to start functioning normally. He did not want to get involved with anyone for a long time, he only married twenty years after Sharon's death, to actress Emmanuelle Seigner.
He then told reporters:"It is time for me to finally have a real family life." The famous scandalist settled down, became the father of two children. The tragedy from over forty years ago took him away not only from Sharon and his son. Together with them, he lost his irretrievable optimism and began to believe that every happy moment will have to be paid for. If he actually made a pact with the dark powers, he paid the ultimate price in a few years of family and professional happiness.