Roman Polanski: A Retrospective is the definitive tribute to one of the world’s most prolific and influential film directors. Editor and film critic James Greenberg takes readers chronologically through Polanski’s extraordinarily rich and varied career, offering unique insight into every one of Polanski’s movies, from Knife in the Water (1962) to Carnage (2011).

Richly illustrated with more than 250 images, including behind-the-scenes photographs from Polanski’s work, the book illuminates the achievements of a director whose own harrowing childhood and controversial story could inspire a movie. During his five-decade career, Polanski has provided generations of filmgoers with many engaging, enchanting, and haunting movies, and this retrospective is a testament to his unrivaled and distinctive talent.

About the Author

James Greenberg is editor in chief of the DGA Quarterly, the industry journal of the Directors Guild of America. A former film critic for Los Angeles magazine and Daily Variety, he has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time Out New York, and Entertainment Weekly. Greenberg has watched Polanski at work in Paris and has interviewed him on several occasions, having met him for the first time in 1991, when he was invited with several other journalists to accompany Polanski for a week on a cruise ship during the filming of the movie Bitter Moon.

Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933 and moved to Poland with his family in 1936. He has directed 19 films including the classics Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby, and won an Academy Award® for best director for The Pianist. He is currently completing his latest film, Venus in Fur.

Review

“James Greenberg’s Roman Polanski: A Retrospective . . . is both a lavish coffee table book that includes a plethora of archival personal photographs and stills from his films and a serious exploration of his career.”

―Los Angeles Times

“For movie buffs already familiar with his work as well as casual fans who’d like to learn more about one of the cinema’s masters, it’s a treasury of images and information.”

―American Profile.com