Sydney Pollack

Director

1934-07-01

Quotes by Sydney Pollack

• I do have a responsibility, but I would make the most boring films in the world if I woke up every morning worrying about my social responsibility.

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• By that I mean, I think that it is true that politics and political heroes have to satisfy our need to be greater than mortal in some way, and that's led them into creating illusions, sound bites, focus groups that tell you what to do.

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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.

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• Every story needs an element of suspense - or it's lousy.

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• Stars are like thoroughbreds. Yes, it's a little more dangerous with them. They are more temperamental. You have to be careful because you can be thrown. But when they do what they do best - whatever it is that's made them a star - it's really exciting.

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• Even with 'Three Days of the Condor,' I wanted to do a thriller. But I was still concentrating on the Faye Dunaway-Robert Redford relationship in that film.

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• You can't stop traffic on Times Square.

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• If you list the qualities that we consider feminine, they are patience, understanding, empathy, supportiveness, a desire to nurture. Our culture tells us those are feminine traits, but they're really just human.

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• At some point during the filmmaking process, you lose objectivity, and you need the eyes of someone who understands the process and has been in the trenches.

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• If I'm lucky, in my wildest dreams I can make a picture every three years.

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