He addressed this in his interview on the Today programme this morning - interview starts at 2h16m, this is the first question - he admitted that he shouldn't have used that word to describe himself in that way.

Is this the biggest or most controversial thing ever? No, of course not, but I do think that there is a pattern of behaviour going back years of Polanski over stating his position and abilities. Other politicians absolutely do this too, and they are at least as bad.