My strength is with actors. I think I'm good at working with them to get the best performances, at seeing what it is that they have and that the story needs.
Sydney PollackRead
If you have a career like mine, which is so identified with Hollywood, with big studios and stars, you wonder if maybe you shouldn't go off and do what the world thinks of as more personal films with lesser-known people. But I think I've fooled everybody. I've made personal films all along. I just made them in another form.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the idea of creating personal art within mainstream frameworks.
Sydney Pollack expresses a contemplative stance on his career, acknowledging the public perception of his work as being tied to Hollywood and major productions. However, he reveals that despite this perception, he has consistently infused his personal experiences and insights into his films, demonstrating that artistry can thrive even within commercial constraints. This highlights the notion that personal expression can be conveyed through various channels, regardless of the project's scale or recognition.
Themes
CareerArtHollywoodPersonal FilmsExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In an interview about the complexities of filmmaking.
More from Sydney Pollack
All quotes →And I taught acting for years, and without knowing it that was the real thing that started bending me toward directing.
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It's my job to motivate the audience to believe. I have to get them to suspend their judgment in favor of involvement.
Sydney PollackRead
You hope that the responsibility of making movies will fall into the hands of essentially moral people.
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Making a movie is a network of decisions that keep multiplying as you go. You leave a trail of decisions behind you, and that's how you start to see the shape of what you've done. When you get far enough, you turn around and say, 'Ha, that's the movie.' It's only then that you find out if it's going to work or not.
Sydney PollackRead
I think a lot of creative people are uncomfortable with therapy. Because you're basically trying to 'solve' the unconscious. And the unconscious is where it all comes from.
Sydney PollackRead
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