With the shocking news of Roman Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland this past weekend, a good deal of discussion surrounding the case inevitably leads back to Marina Zenovich’s Emmy Award-winning documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. The film shed light on the controversial story in a very clear and even-handed manner, but now some people are speculating that its negative portrayal of the L.A. prosecutors may have been what inspired them to strike back. While there is probably more to it than that, there’s no getting around the fact that the documentary has now had an influence on the very story it tried to tell.

Such things do tend to happen with documentaries from time to time (sometimes willfully, other times accidentally), and they can also often lead to follow-up films. So as the media frenzy continues to build all over again, will we see a sequel to Wanted and Desired? I think you can count on it. According to The New York Times (via The Playlist), Zenovich quietly began shooting additional footage last February. Not only that, but it looks like she may now also be getting a little help from Hollywood bigshot Brett Ratner!

Ratner announced on the Movie Geeks United radio show that he will be producing the sequel, apparently in co-operation with Zenovich. He has also apparently managed to get Polanski to agree to participate in the film, which is something he refused to do for the original. (Ratner is close with Polanski, who had a role in Rush Hour 3.) There’s certainly another major story taking shape here, and potentially an even more successful feature-length documentary. The only problem is that with Polanski’s direct involvement, the sequel may not come across so balanced this time around. We’ll have more on this as it develops.