Sydney Pollack was probably a friend of Kubrick's but seeing as Kubrick is such a perfectionist director it surprises me he would hire such an awful actor.
shareHe's definitely not the strongest actor in it.
sharePollack is outstanding in that billiards room talk with Bill. Don't know what you're on about.
Fighting the frizzies, at 11.
Curious is Kubrick's casting of fellow directors in the film, as well as using personal friends and long time crew in various roles.
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Yes, this aspect can't be emphasized enough, Barbed. It's obviously deliberate and it's pretty crazy how far down it goes. In particular there are a ton of small roles filled by actors who were associated with Tom Cruise.
Some examples...
Of course Sydney Pollack and Todd Field are Directors. Leon Vitali (Red Cloak) is an actor most famous for playing Lord Bullingdon in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Vitali was Casting Director on EWS, and also billed as an assistant to the director.
Brian W. Cook, who played the gold-masked butler who lies to Bill about his taxi driver "urgently" needing a word with him at Somerton was 1st or 2nd Assistant Director or Producer of many films. He also co-produced and was 1st AD on EWS.
Randall Paul plays "Harris," who interrupts Bill when he's with Gayle and Nuala. Paul had previously appeared alongside Cruise in the first Mission Impossible, as a "CIA Escort Guard." Sam Douglas, who played a cab driver in EWS, also appeared in Mission Impossible. Interestingly, so did Carmela Marner (the waitress in Gillespie's who Bill pries for info about Nick). Oddly, both Marner and Douglas played a "Kiev Room Agent." A villainous role opposite our good-guy protagonist Cruise.
Then you have Michael Doven -- Ziegler's secretary, who interrupts Nick and Bill's conversation. He spent virtually his entire career from 1990 to 2005 next to Cruise, starting as his assistant in the early 90s and moving up to producing a bunch of Cruise's films in the early 2000s.
Lisa Leone ("Lisa," Bill's secretary who gives him tuna salad and black coffee) also served as production manager and set decorator on EWS.
And then there are several close family/friends of Kubrick's who appeared in EWS: Emilio D'Alessandro, his longtime friend and personal assistant, plays the newsstand owner whom we see when Cruise picks up the "Lucky to be alive" Post. Kubrick's stepdaughter Katharina appears in the montage of Bill at work, as the mother of a boy Bill is examining. The boy is Katharina's son, Alex Hobbs.
Some people insist that the bearded man seen behind Nick and Bill's table in the Sonata Cafe is Kubrick himself -- and the woman with him Kubrick's wife Christiane -- but I don't see it. It's not that Kubrick wouldn't do such a thing, indeed it'd be perfectly in line with the film's form; it's just that the resemblance is vague at best. And I believe a cast/crew or family member disproved this claim once, perhaps Jan Harlan or Leon Vitali, but I can't recall.
Tangential: Louise J. Taylor, who played Gayle, appeared in a 1998 TV-movie adaptation of Alice Through the Looking Glass.
It works the other way too. Lest we forget Mr Millich, who starred alongside Cruise in Mission Impossible II as a Russian scientist a year after EWS.
shareSeriously? That billiards room scene he was hamming it up like a daytime soap actor.
shareare u kiddin?? pollacks' scenes are probably my fave parts of the movie
i thought his presence gave the film a real air of mystery
Pollack is awesome. Check out HUSBANDS AND WIVES, he's amazing.
shareAm I the only one who thinks Pollack looked a lot like David Letterman in this film?
He is very authoritative, but Tiny Tom keeps repeating every statement as a question which is irritating. I get that Dr. Harford is out of his depth, but this seems a rather heavy handed way of showing it.
Sorry to pile on, but couldnt let this one go - Sydney Pollack was great. RIP
shareI agree, he is mediocre at best. I think Kubrick liked him as a man in that character, rather than appreciate his acting. He fits the upper mid class pig that thinks he can bully regular guys like dr Bill.
He s phisically a better choice than Keitel, who s too flashy.
Kidman´s "high" acting was infinitely worse. Not to mention her Aussie accent slips in quite often when she speaks.
shareShe was great in that scene, except for playing high.
TBH I think the use of grass was not necessary and a cliche. I wish they reached that argument after fucking, just because they had a bad fuck and were jealous of their encounters at Ziegler's.
Not because they were loose after smoking, excuse not needed.
I think Pollack - who was a better actor than director - is excellent in Eyes Wide Shut. Tom Cruise is the weak link in the cast imo.
Whatever your feelings about his performance, it's not like Kubrick didn't have a track record of hiring lightweight actors - 2001 and Barry Lyndon are not exactly graced with major thespian talents, but they are brilliant films.
So many Kubrick/Pollack asskissers here. I agree with you 100% OP. His delivery just seemed stilted and over rehearsed.
share