SIDNEY POLLACK ON 2001

Started by Fernando, June 04, 2003, 09:23:23 AM

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Fernando

Last sunday TCM presented 2001: ASO, Sidney made the introduction of the film as well as a final comment at the end of it.

Here's what he said.

"Those of us in the movie business have a polite euphemism for someone who's a pain in the ass. Whether it is an actor or director if they're a pain to work with you always call them a perfectionist. The only real  perfectionist I've ever worked with is Stanley Kubrick.

"If you've been following the essentials you know that Stanley Kubrick's name keeps coming up. He directed Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Lolita, but the most famous is the one were about to see.

"This is probably the movie that set Kubrick apart form the crowd forever. Because of 2001 people who'd never followed movies or never think about directing became Stanley Kubrick fans. It was 1968 when this movie came out and it was, in a 60s way, totally awesome. People who were tripping on this movie lot of time were tripping on recreational drugs but not Stanley. The  way he grabs your attention and makes you think is something not many filmmakers can do. I still don't know how … cant figure out how he did this film, how he got his ideas or how he did it technically before there was computer-generated anything.

"2001 is an amazingly visual film, every frame hits you in the guts and happens so regularly right from start that you begin to take it for granted. Kubrick gets to our feelings in a way that's not highbrow or briny even though it's really big stuff. It is sci fi but its really about our place in the universe and our future as a race. You have to remember that in 1968 the year 2001 sounded like never land, a long way off. Stanley found a way to
handle the material in direct emotional style. The words are almost  incidental, the pictures and time and sound. Instead of our regular language, Kubrick uses pictures and sound and time.

"We should talk about the music. The Famous da da da DAADAA …. Stanley's feeling was when you had Strauss and Beethoven, Stravinsky, why would you use anyone else? So Stanley used the classics.

"Kubrick spent something like 5 years making 2001, which he did with most of his films. Five years of hard, meticulous work, living with the material, and it shows with every frame. Kubrick was just a guy from the Bronx but sometimes he could see things no one else could see. 2001 became a dividing line between the way movies are and the way they would be. As I mentioned I knew Kubrick for many years but I'm not sure it was possible to really now Stanley. You could know certain aspects but the man like the movie was enigmatic and mysterious and all good way.

"There are a bunch of monkeys, a computer named Hal and one of the most inspired transitions ever in any movie in which a bone turns into a space ship. Trust me, it works."

At the end of the film, Sydney returns to say:

"I got to work with Stanley Kubrick on his  last movie, Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Truth is I'd been communicating with him for 30 years but never met in person. We'd been trading letters and phone calls… he actually used to send me nescafe commercials, he'd be over in England and see the commercial and count the words, and he'd call all excited and say he found a way to cut three more words.

"Stanley Kubrick was a man with endless curiostiy about his craft. I never once had a conversation about film with Stanley Kubrick where I wasn't more excited in the end than when I started. He was a generous genius who supported all of us who were trying to direct films and he'll be sorely missed."

godardian

I saw this, and I thought Pollack was pretty down-to-earth, though respectful. I liked it. Sydney Pollack doesn't strike me as a great director, but he seems a decent and tasteful person.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

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Gold Trumpet

I liked it too and glad to have gotten this transcript because I missed the broadcast. I like Pollack and agree he has had a mixed career as a director, but I think he struck comedic genius with Tootsie.

~rougerum

godardian

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetI liked it too and glad to have gotten this transcript because I missed the broadcast. I like Pollack and agree he has had a mixed career as a director, but I think he struck comedic genius with Tootsie.

~rougerum

I've not seen Tootsie.   :oops:

I do think Syndey Pollack can be a very good actor (Husbands and Wives, Eyes Wide Shut; I mean, he plays an asshole in both of those, and he obviously isn't one in real life, but he was convincing, I thought).
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Alethia

i think he's a wonderful director (tootsie, they shoot horses don't they? and out of africa come to mind)

Keener

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Uniting film lovers and filmmakers of Alabama

Ghostboy

Sure, but don't expect anything mind blowing. It's a strict sci-fi thriller sort of piece, but it has a lot of good exciting stuff in it.

dufresne

Quote from: KeenerIs 2010 worth a look ?

honestly? no.
There are shadows in life, baby.

Pubrick

Quote from: KeenerIs 2010 worth a look ?
only if:
u need to sleep
u like having everything explained to u
u like shit movies.
under the paving stones.

Pubrick

Quote from: mogwaiCome on, bro. Beeeee nice to Keener.
i didn't think that was about keener  :shock:

they were reasons to watch the sucky movie.  :shock:
under the paving stones.

Pubrick

Quote from: mogwaiMaybe Keener is offended if someone says that he likes sucky movies. :shock:
*sigh* mog moggy mogski.

*laughs like Dr Hibbert*

the only one offended is u cos u misunderstood what i was trying to say!

now let's go beat up trolls.  :-D
under the paving stones.

Keener

I like attention.

I guess I'll avoid 2010.
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Uniting film lovers and filmmakers of Alabama

bonanzataz

it's funny how kubrick destroyed all the models and sets after 2001 was made so that there couldn't be a sequel or they couldn't use the materials in any way, but they made the sequel anyway. i'm curious to watch it, but i don't want it to ruin the original. does it ruin the original?
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

Pastor Parsley

Quote from: bonanzatazi'm curious to watch it, but i don't want it to ruin the original. does it ruin the original?

If it was halfway decent it might.....but it isn't.  It couldn't ruin 2001 if it tried.  What I can't believe is the ignorance it took for a handful of exec's to actaully try to sequel a Kubrick film.  That goes way beyond ballsy to downright stupid.

Keener

It's a good thing that A Clockwork Orange 2: Alex's Revenge would not make money these days. The Shining 2 on the other hand... :shock:
Alabama Film Forum
Uniting film lovers and filmmakers of Alabama