Sydney Pollack

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q51522: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: Tootsie (1982); Husbands and Wives (1992); The Player (1992); Eyes Wide Shut (1999); Michael Clayton (2007). Count them as director (6 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Arthur Schnitzler: 2 lines

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Arthur Schnitzler ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read). Kubrick turned Schnitzler's Dream Story into Eyes Wide Shut 30 plus years later (per the dossier).
    “the Arthur Schnitzler book that he's going to turn into Eyes Wide Shut 30 plus years later.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:10:40 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (source novella) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Arthur Schnitzler ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read). The speaker says the novel is very close to the film, so close that its plot beats are nearly one to one.
    “And it is very similar to eyes wide shut.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:31 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Alfred Hitchcock: 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: Alfred Hitchcock ⇒ The Player (the host's read). Wesley notes the Hitchcock-like touches in the rattlesnake and police station scenes.
    “Little Hitchcock homage, I feel like.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:05:45 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Dream Story (Traumnovelle, the Schnitzler novella): 1 line

  1. lineage (adaptation) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Dream Story (Traumnovelle, the Schnitzler novella) ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read). The speakers note the film's credit says inspired by, not adapted from, Schnitzler's novella.
    “It's not adapted from Schnitzler.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:37:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Kirk Douglas: 1 line

  1. lineage (origin of the project) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Kirk Douglas ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the maker said so). Kirk Douglas claims he handed Kubrick the novella during their Paths of Glory or Spartacus fights.
    “Kirk Douglas claims he gave it to him during one of their like shared therapy sessions”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:33:04 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Modern Romance: 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Modern Romance ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the maker said so: Kubrick's call to Albert Brooks, 'that famous story'). Kubrick reached out to Albert Brooks after Modern Romance because he wanted to bottle that dynamic of men and women.
    “if you like reached out to Albert Brooks after seeing modern romance and said, like, Brit, and he was like, how did you do this?”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:38:46 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Nashville (1975): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: Nashville ⇒ The Player (the host's read). Wesley says the tricks Altman uses in The Player, like famous people dropping into a space, are ones he used in Nashville.
    “a lot of the tricks that he's using in the player, I mean, he uses in Nashville, right?”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:17:32 · Wesley Morris (0.85 sure it was them)

Singin' in the Rain (1952): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: Singin' in the Rain ⇒ The Player (the host's read). Sean says movies about movies go back long before The Player, e.g. Singin' in the Rain, but this one is far more inside the joke.
    “Going back to singing in the rain.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:04:08 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

Terry Southern: 1 line

  1. lineage (origin of an idea) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Terry Southern ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read). A conversation Southern had with Kubrick about an erotic film that looks like a film is called a kernel of Eyes Wide Shut.
    “he basically had a conversation at one point with Kubrick that is a kernel of eyes wide shut.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · A Clockwork Orange with Alex Ross Perry (Ad-Free) · 1:15:42 · Alex Ross Perry (0.60 sure it was them)

The Long Goodbye (1973): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: The Long Goodbye ⇒ The Player (the host's read). Wesley reads Greta Scacchi's character as an echo of Nina van Pallandt's ice queen in The Long Goodbye, itself a riff on noir femmes fatales.
    “that character is a an echo of another Altman character, the Nina Van Palant character in the longabai”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 1:07:08 · Wesley Morris (0.80 sure it was them)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): 1 line

  1. lineage (title origin) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ⇒ Eyes Wide Shut (the host's read). The speaker offers that the phrase 'eyes wide shut' may come from the le Carre novel.
    “It may have been inspired from Tinker Teal or Soldier Spy.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:40:51 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Touch of Evil (1958): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: Touch of Evil ⇒ The Player (the host's read). The Player's opening nods to Touch of Evil's tracking shot by having Fred Ward's character talk about it, then reveal he never watches foreign films.
    “Fred Ward talking about the tracking shot and touch of evil, but then revealing that he never watches foreign films.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:35:53 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Babygirl (2024): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Babygirl (the host's read). The stoned late-night bedroom lecture after the rave echoes Eyes Wide Shut.
    “Nice callback to eyes wide shut and lecturing Tom Cruise in the bedroom while stoned out of their minds.”
    The Big Picture · The Nicole Kidman Hall of Fame, and ‘Babygirl’ · 0:24:49 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014): 1 line

  1. craft (craft) · them, directly: Sydney Pollack ⇒ Captain America: The Winter Soldier (the host's read). Winter Soldier's look is said to approximate a Sydney Pollack movie (transcribed 'Sydney Poland').
    “And, you know, Captain America's sort of trying to approximate like a fucking Sydney Poland movie or whatever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:34:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Juneteenth (Atlanta episode) (2016): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Juneteenth (Atlanta episode) (the host's read). Donald Glover's character describes the party as a Spike-directed reboot of Eyes Wide Shut.
    “this is like a spikely directed reboot of eyes wide shut”
    The Big Picture · Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman Channel Rejection and Anxiety to Make ‘Lemon’ | The Big Picture (Ep. 22) · 0:04:44 · Alison Herman (0.85 sure it was them)

Phantom Thread (2017): 1 line

  1. unmapped (lesson learned) · through Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which they acted in: Eyes Wide Shut ⇒ Phantom Thread (the host's read). The speaker feels PTA took lessons from visiting the Kubrick set about small crews.
    “Like, it feels like PTA sort of learned some lessons from being on the set that took years to see Ben.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 1:06:03 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

The Larry Sanders Show (1992): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through The Player (1992), which they acted in: The Player ⇒ The Larry Sanders Show (the host's read). Bill asks whether The Player is ground zero for the meta-Hollywood strain that runs through Larry Sanders and Curb.
    “Larry Sanders and Curb your enthusiasm and all these different things we've had over the 30 years.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:03:46 · Bill Simmons (0.95 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (10) everyone in directing

Acting (6) everyone in acting

Other (3) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (3)

  1. career (career): Sydney Pollack → Eyes Wide Shut. Pollack's Player cameo ended an acting drought since Tootsie and set off a chain that led to Eyes Wide Shut.
    “this sets off a chain of movies culminating in Him in the leather sleeveless vest and knives wide shut”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:56:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Sydney Pollack → Husbands and Wives. Pollack is praised as a trained actor who is great in Husbands and Wives.
    “H husbands and wives.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:50 · Bill Simmons (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. career (career): Ferrari → Sydney Pollack. Mann began talking with Sydney Pollack about Ferrari in the 90s.
    “I guess he started talking with Sidney Pollock about this movie in the 90s”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ferrari’ and Top Five Michael Mann Movies · 0:05:12 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (1)

  1. craft (craft): Captain America: The Winter Soldier → Sydney Pollack. Winter Soldier's look is said to approximate a Sydney Pollack movie (transcribed 'Sydney Poland').
    “And, you know, Captain America's sort of trying to approximate like a fucking Sydney Poland movie or whatever.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Thor: The Dark World · 0:34:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

  1. lineage (lineage): The Insider → Sydney Pollack. The Insider is described as a Sydney Pollack movie with more tension, angst and masculinity.
    “this is a Sydney Pollock movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ferrari’ and Top Five Michael Mann Movies · 0:56:00 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (people): Robert Redford → Sydney Pollack. Pollack was the one director who knew how to work with Redford, working with him many times.
    “that's one guy who knows how to work with him.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The Winter Soldier · 0:49:03 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Sydney Pollack: Sydney Pollack in suspenders and no shirt in Eyes Wide Shut is the text-thread photo and the energy Bill says he strives for.
    “That's the energy I'm striving for in my life.”
    The Rewatchables · 'The Player' With Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Wesley Morris · 0:57:07 · Bill Simmons (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Sydney Pollack: Only one awards body nominated him for Eyes Wide Shut, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, where he lost to Dennis Leary in The Thomas Crown Affair.
    “Nominated Sidney Pollock for, favorite supporting actor, drama slash romance.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Eyes Wide Shut with David Ehrlich (Ad-Free) · 0:05:11 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)