"The Pianist" Comes to DVD

From Roman Polanski, one of the world’s key visionary filmmakers, comes the Academy Award®-winning ("Best Director", Roman Polanski, "Best Actor," Adrien Brody, and "Best Adapted Screenplay," Ronald Harwood) [link url=http://movies.about.com/cs/thepianist/]"The Pianist," an unforgettable true story of hope, debuting on DVD and VHS May 27, 2003. The Oscar®-winning director states, "'The Pianist' is a testimony to the power of music, the will to live, and the courage to stand against evil." Starring Oscar® winner ("Best Actor") Adrien Brody, "The Pianist" thrilled both critics and audiences with its emotional power and its inspirational message that bravery and strength of character can get one through the darkest of times, even the most horrific chapter in world history. Together, director/producer Polanski and actor Brody create a vivid portrait of one man’s determination, during humanity’s darkest time, to beat the odds and stay alive.

Cited on over 100 critics’ 10 Best lists, "The Pianist" tells the remarkable, real-life tale of celebrated composer and pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew, who eluded the Nazis and managed to survive in the war-torn Warsaw Ghetto. In bringing this amazing story to the screen, acclaimed director Roman Polanski ("Chinatown," "Rosemary’s Baby") was determined to do justice to Mr. Szpilman’s harrowing autobiography as it was written – with a sense of objectivity, yet full of infinite richness of detail.

For Polanski, The Pianist is his most personal statement. At the age of seven, he escaped the Cracow Ghetto through a hole in a barbed-wire fence. "The Pianist" marks the first time the director had made a movie in Poland in 40 years. "I survived the bombing of Warsaw and the Cracow Ghetto and I wanted to re-create those childhood visions," Polanski notes. "It was also important for me to stick as close to the truth as possible and avoid Hollywood-style make-believe."

After an exhaustive international search, the director cast rising young American actor Adrien Brody in the role of a lifetime as Szpilman. German actor Thomas Kretschmann ("Blade II," "U-571") portrays Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, the Nazi officer who became an unlikely source of aid for Mr. Szpilman. Rounding out the roster of talent in "The Pianist" are veteran British thespians Frank Finlay ("The Three Musketeers") and Maureen Lipman ("Educating Rita"), Emilia Fox (USA Network’s "Helen of Troy"), and newcomer Jessica Kate Meyer.

DVD BONUS FEATURES
"The Pianist" DVD includes "A Story of Survival," a specially created 40-minute documentary that gives the viewer an in-depth look at the production of the film as well as intimate insight into Roman Polanski's real-life survival during World War II.

SYNOPSIS
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards® including Best Picture and winner of 3, "The Pianist" stars Oscar® winner Adrien Brody in the true-life story of brilliant pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, the most acclaimed young musician of his time, until his promising career was interrupted by the onset of World War II. This powerful, ultimately triumphant film follows Szpilman's heroic and inspirational journey of survival with the unlikely help of a sympathetic German officer (Thomas Kretschmann). A truly unforgettable epic, testifying to both the power of hope and the resiliency of the human spirit, "The Pianist" is a miraculous tale of survival masterfully brought to life by visionary filmmaker Roman Polanski in his most personal movie ever.