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NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - William Shakespeare's 'Othello' has worked perfectly well onstage for more than 400 years, so it's a puzzlement as to why director Peter Sellars felt such the need to mess with it in his new production starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.

American reaction muted compared with European outrage as film director faces possible extradition to the U.S.

ZURICH/PARIS (Reuters) - Roman Polanski's extradition to the United States on a decades-old sex charge could take years to accomplish after the Oscar-winning film director decided on Monday to fight his removal from Europe.

Director Roman Polanski was arrested over the weekend in Switzerland on an international warrant for having sex with a 13-year-old girl more than three decades ago. Polanski's lawyer has vowed to fight efforts to extradite the filmmaker, who has lived in France since 1978, to the U.S. Matthew Belloni, editor of The Hollywood Reporter's entertainment law blog, says previous efforts to arrest Polanski have failed.

Diplomatic war brewing as politicians and filmmakers lobby for release of Oscar-winning director after arrest on 1978 US warrantBlog: Hollywood unites in Roman Polanski's defenceA diplomatic war was brewing today over the arrest of the filmmaker Roman Polanski, who was detained in Switzerland on a decades-old warrant relating to the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.France and Poland urged Switzerland to free the 76-year-old director on bail and said they would be lobbying the US government all the way up to the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.Frédéric Mitterrand, the French culture minister, said the arrest was proof of the 'frightening' side of America.'In the same way as there is a generous America which we love, there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening, and it is this America which has now shown us its face,' he said.Reports this afternoon said the director had refused to voluntarily go to the US to face charges, raising the prospect of a long and drawn-out

Hollywood and haute couture have always been a good fit: From the cinematic runways of Stanley Donen's Funny Face to the behind-the-scenes tastemaking of The September Issue, fashion and the business of it have long been favorite topics on film. Bob Mondello charts the trend.

Hollywood stars, basketball players and wrestlers have made it into politics, so why not a tech personality? A former eBay CEO is trying to pave the way from Silicon Valley to elected office with a run for governor in California.