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
You're fighting a losing battle if you expect the people who own the studios to make moral choices.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Expecting moral choices from those in power can lead to disappointment.
Sydney Pollack's quote reflects a philosophical perspective on the nature of power and decision-making in the entertainment industry. It suggests that individuals or entities in control, such as studio owners, are often driven by profit and commercial interests rather than ethical considerations, leading to a futile effort for advocates who hope for moral integrity in their decisions.
Themes
MoralityPowerEntertainmentDecision MakingResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about ethical filmmaking, this quote can illustrate the challenges faced by filmmakers.
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.
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.
Sydney PollackRead
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.
Sydney PollackRead
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
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