18 Quotes & Sayings By Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack is an American filmmaker. He has directed nine films which have garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, with three wins: Tootsie (1982), Out of Africa (1985) and The Firm (1993). His films are among the most respected works in motion picture history. He received America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from Ronald Reagan in 1985.

1
If I'm lucky, in my wildest dreams I can make a picture every three years. Sydney Pollack
2
The very reasons sometimes that you make a film are the reasons for its failure. Sydney Pollack
3
My strength is with actors. I think I'm good at working with them to get the best performances, at seeing what it is that they have and that the story needs. Sydney Pollack
4
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. Sydney Pollack
5
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. Sydney Pollack
6
I mean, certainly writing, painting, photography, dance, architecture, there is an aspect of almost every art form that is useful and that merges into film in some way. Sydney Pollack
7
If I want to make people moved or cry in a film, I figure out what the room looks like, what the people are wearing, what time of day it is, what the light is, how to photograph it, where to put the camera. It involves optics and costume design and set design and architecture. Sydney Pollack
8
What makes architecture extraordinary is that you're looking at the building, but your peripheral vision is also seeing how it fits within a space. And it's seeing more than one part of the building at one time. Sydney Pollack
9
Well, the wonderful thing about making movies, oddly enough, is that they're sort of highly motivated graduate studies in one or another field. Sydney Pollack
10
Every single art form is involved in film, in a way. Sydney Pollack
11
When you make a film you usually make a film about an idea. Sydney Pollack
12
You can't trust your memory. You change it to suit yourself. Sydney Pollack
13
I think it's a terrible shame that politics has become show business. Sydney Pollack
14
I remembered myself as an unpopular and rather sad kid. Sydney Pollack
15
In terms of level of difficulty, it would go comedy, thriller, and then romantic drama. Sydney Pollack
16
I'm as much a victim of the romantic myth of 'getting away' as anyone else. My head tells me it's myth, but I don't want to believe it is. Sydney Pollack
17
No country could claim to be civilized if its legal system weren't available to everyone in it. Sydney Pollack