Sydney Pollack on Tootsie and acting in movies

Sydney Pollack talks about the making of "Tootsie", Dustin Hoffman and why he acts in other people's movies.
October 22nd, 2005
The full interview is available here : • Sydney Pollack: You've...

[@mjnapco]

Sydney absolutely nailed that role, he was amazing in it, just perfection

[@bulldogtv2143]

Agree 1000%.

[@jellyrollnorton]

I agree. Everyone in the movie was perfect.

[@JeffMcNeal]

I LOVED Sydney Pollack's acting in that movie. I'm so glad that Dustin Hoffman insisted on it. It made me want to see him in more acting roles.

[@cindypinzenscham6927]

Me too!!!!

[@Paul_Wetor]

I love the scene with Sydney Pollack as the agent telling Michael Dorsey that nobody will hire him.

[@psytrancedj]

"You were a tomato! A tomato doesn't have logic! A tomato doesn't move!" 😂

[@jamesbomd3503]

Nobody will hire YOOOOOOOOOOOOU !! Took me years to find out that he was the director Blew me away when that information came to me

[@BuckyNugget]

I can't believe how great Dustin Hoffman's instincts were to know what the film demanded, and how it yielded one of the best comedy scenes in movie history. "YOU WERE A TOMATO!!!"

[@MultiSweener]

And after all that, a masterpiece was created.

[@OhSankYouDoktor]

So thoughtful and insightful. I can't imagine "Tootsie" without him as the agent. A great actor and director who left us way too son - and, by all accounts, a very nice man.

[@ElainePuma]

He's got so much gravitas to him, no matter what he does.

[@Harrison2253]

He was great in his part as were so many others. An exceptional movie

[@alexcanfor-dumas1463]

Tootsie is not only a very funny film; it's also a very clever film. Kudos to everyone involved. I could watch it again and again.

[@Icandoitifiwant]

He is SUCH A GREAT ACTOR!!!!!!!!! SOOOO real and authentic and natural.

[@fromtherubble6890]

Dustin was right...Dabney Coleman was amazing in everything, but Pollack was a more sincere agent...Those exchanges might be the best part of the movie

[@crissrudd4554]

The argument scene in the agents office IMO is one of the best scenes in cinema!

[@larespo1]

I felt he should have been nominated for an Oscar for his role in the movie. He was perfection!

[@Michaela1942]

I had the honor of working with Sydney Pollack on several films including Tootsie. He was wonderful to work with....intelligent, caring, tough, funny. Oh, yes, speaking of the fights between Sydney and Dustin - absolutely, the whole lot could hear them. But, both good, talented guys and they made up, of course. Especially when all the awards began coming in. That was Columbia's golden year - Tootsie, Gandhi and Das Boot! It was a wonderful time to be part of Columbia. Then, of course, Coca Cola, who had just bought the studio took over creative control and Columbia when down hill fast with such gems as Perfect, The Sluggers Wife, Body Double (all of which featured lots of Coca Cola bottles and cans). All the best at the top left and soon many of the rest of us followed. Thank goodness Sony ended up buying Columbia and bringing it back.

[@BuckyNugget]

in what capacity were you?

[@lisab7977]

It’s my fault that he passed away. It seems like I talk about a famous person, and they die right after. I saw the movie “Made of Honor” and I said “is that Sydney Pollock?” (I hadn’t seen him onscreen in a long time). He died the next day. 😢😢😢

[@BuckyNugget]

@@lisab7977 I did the same thing to Dixie Carter 😞

[@javagirl]

Thanks for the background info.

[@christinedavis7850]

Seriously? Or are you just blowing smoke….prove it

[@MrsLangue]

I saw Tootsie so many times. I love Sydney as agent. The scene when he argues with Dustin about playing tomato have me in stitches every time :)

[@elizabethdexter-wilson4239]

"A tomato doesn't have logic! A tomato can't move!"

[@MrsLangue]

@@elizabethdexter-wilson4239 Yeah! 🙂 "I was a stand-up tomato: a juicy, sexy, beefsteak tomato. Nobody does vegetables like me. I did an evening of vegetables off-Broadway. I did the best tomato, the best cucumber. I did an endive salad that knocked the critics on their ass."

[@lyndajamrozik4786]

The best scenes in Tootsie are with Sydney Pollak.

[@johnschaefer2238]

Let’s not forget the street scene in Tootsie where Hoffman yells “I’m walking here!”

[@grahampalmer9337]

Of it's time but a classic - & one of my favourites. 😀

[@elizabethdexter-wilson4239]

Tootsie remains my very favorite movie ever.

[@alanabroad3471]

This and Saving Private Benjamin.

[@stephaniestanley8041]

When I was a child my mother and I went to see The Way We Were. At the end of the opening sequence Sydney's name appeared. My mom turned to me and said, "I dated him in high school." Sure enough I went through her Central High school year book from South Bend Indiana and there he was!!❤😂😮

[@ashroskell]

These are fascinating insights. You’d never imagine such disagreements being so large a part of the process.

[@rixvspinner]

Dustin was so right that Sydney was the one to play his agent in Tootsie. I was surprised to see Sydney mention he was surprised Tootsie was a hit because when I first saw it when it came out I thought this will be huge since it was so good and different.

[@danielterry382]

You listen to him talk, and you realize he was one of the Best directors. He had a small roll in an episode of the Soprano's, , did very well.

[@stephenfermoyle4578]

GENIUS I would have loved to have met this incredible Man.

[@BobLovesKaren]

YOU WERE A TOMATO!

[@CasperLCat]

Sydney the actor, is so convincing as a tough guy. Victor Zeigler in Eyes Wide Shut is one of the most effortlessly ruthless characters in all of film.

[@natalie651]

What a great man. You are sorely missed Mr. Pollack.

[@madeleinegrayson8372]

Sydney is a magnificent actor and was trained in NYC in Meisner technique, which he then taught. Watch the film, "Husbands and Wives" to see him really in action.

[@javagirl]

Some might think this is just a lightweight film because it is so comical, but it also made several poignant statements about women and how they were treated at the time. Hoffman later said it totally changed his perspective about women. After all, he did stand in their shoes! 😅

[@t.p.mckenna]

'Michael Clayton' - SP is just brilliant.

[@Mike44460]

NAILED it!

[@sushicourier]

How interesting the part about seeing how other directors work!

[@garyferguson1105]

Sydney Pollack was in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone. He was a very good actor, and perfect as the director of Tootsie.

[@jamesbomd3503]

It's a feel good movie went to see it on the cinema as part of their old season of films Last Friday night Walk IN feeling normal walked out feeling great With the music still reminiscing In the back of my mind With the pictures of early 80s New York

[@pegaga1618]

yeah Good call from Dustin. Only Sydney can look believable telling Dustin off as an agent. And Sydney was on point.

[@waki9870]

I always respected Mr. Hoffman and to hear from Pollack that he fired two other directors and hired him, wow, Dustin vision was right on target.

[@bibipersaud9018]

He was fantastic!!!!! Superb!!!

[@studebaker4217]

I wish I could find a heavyweight biography of Sydney Pollack. There seems to be none.

[@ObscureAlternstives]

Nice masculine screen presence.

[@RachelSitea-mn2qk]

Sydney Pollack was a fine actor; as a director, I don’t understand why he isn’t considered an auteur.. he’s far superior to Kubrick.

[@naysayer1238]

Ha! I never thought of that: the neck. I'm surprised when he listed how they finally made him almost look like a woman that he didn't explicitly say that they made sure to hide "Dorothy's" neck.

[@lisab7977]

I love how all the old timers call movies, “pictures”. 😂

[@michaelbirke6050]

They don’t make directors like Sidney anymore.

[@gargantuaism]

The Contest of Aaron Gold.

[@maryeliason1504]

He was so sexy !

[@kendallevans4079]

Unless you're Hitchcock, who only inserted himself in his pictures for comic effect, it's always going to come across as a vanity project when a director is in his own movie.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

DUSTIN HOFFMAN IS HOMELY.

[@Nicole19989]

Man, Dustin really did (does) have a massive ego!

[@mrb6309]

Unfortunately, the best actors usually do. It comes with the territory.

[@danielterry382]

Dustin turned down so many hit rolls, and still had a great career.

[@lyndajamrozik4786]

Yeah Dustin seems like a douche

[@allanjacquadro870]

What a great director. Big loss.

[@RachelSitea-mn2qk]

@@mrb6309Not so. Absolutes rarely apply in this profession.