sydney pollack died on monday. pollack directed what i think is one of the best films of all time: tootsie. word is that dustin hoffman wanted the film to be more broad (no pun intended) but pollack resisted, wanting instead to place more emphasis on the difficult relationship between hoffman's character and the jessica lange character.pollack didn't want to be in the film (he ended up playing agent george fields to hoffman's michael dorsey.) once he agreed, the scenes between he and hoffman were supposedly quite similar to actual arguments the two had behind the scenes:
George Fields: Nobody will hire you.
Michael Dorsey: Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me?
George Fields: No, no, that's too limited... nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. I can't even set you up for a commercial. You played a tomato for 30 seconds - they went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn't sit down.
Michael Dorsey: Of course. It was illogical.
George Fields: YOU WERE A TOMATO. A tomato doesn't have logic. A tomato can't move.
Michael Dorsey: That's what I said. So if he can't move, how's he gonna sit down, George? 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.
"Tootsie" was one of my all time favorite movies. Still run my VHS tape of it now and again and I always catch it on TV. I was so sorry to hear of Mr. Pollack's death. Thanks for this reminder of one of my favorite scenes from the movie.
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