The Pianist’s producer is gone
mainGene Gutowski, a Holocaust survivor, has died of pneumonia in Warsaw, aged 90.
He made three films with Roman Polanski in the mid-Sixties – Repulsion, Cul-de-Sac and The Fearless Vampire Killers – had a falling out, then approached him again at the turn of the century to make The Pianist, a film that reflected their common experience in Warsaw under German occupation.
And he was a consultant to Saudi arms dealer, Adnan Khashoggi (the Iran-Contra affair; the Imelda Marcos affair; securities fraud; money laundering…). I’m rather more interested in knowing more about Gutowski’s involvement with Khashoggi, which apparently lasted several years, than I am in his producing of movies.