The producer of Roman Polanski’s latest film, The Palace, complains that no one wanted the rights to distribute the film in the US, Great Britain and France, saying morality should prevail over art, Reuters reports.

One of the most successful directors of his generation, Polanski fled the United States after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, a crime he confessed to.

After the #MeToo movement gained worldwide attention in 2017 following allegations of sexual assault against American film producer Harvey Weinstein, several women claimed that Polanski had also sexually assaulted them as a teenager.

Polanski denied the allegations, which were never brought to trial, but has since struggled to secure global distribution deals for his films, although some actors still want to work with him.

The Palace, a comedy set in a Swiss hotel populated by grotesque characters, stars Mickey Rourke, John Cleese, Oliver Mazzucci, Fanny Ardan and Joaquim De Almeida.

Producer Luca Barbareschi said he has sold distribution rights across continental Europe, but not in France, the UK or the United States, despite the film featuring big-name actors from all three countries.

Barbareschi said “I Blame,” which premiered at the 2019 Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim, had never been seen in theaters in the United States, Britain, Australia or New Zealand.

“And we wonder why wars arise. The Anglo-Saxon world should respect artists as the rest of the world does,” he said, adding: “There is no moral judgment about art.”

He added that Polanski’s films have been shown on numerous streaming platforms such as Netflix, “making millions” on those platforms. “Somebody explain this logic to me,” he said.