Pollock (2000)

A film about the life and career of the American painter, Jackson Pollock.

Director:

Ed Harris

Writers:

Steven Naifeh (book), Gregory White Smith (book)

Stars:

Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Robert Knott

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ed Harris	...	Jackson Pollock
Robert Knott	...	Sande Pollock
Molly Regan	...	Arloie Pollock
Marcia Gay Harden	...	Lee Krasner
Sada Thompson	...	Stella Pollock
Eulala Scheel	...	Arloie's Baby (as Eulala Grace Harden)
Matthew Sussman	...	Reuben Kadish
Bud Cort	...	Howard Putzel
Amy Madigan	...	Peggy Guggenheim
Everett Quinton	...	James Johnson Sweeney
Annabelle Gurwitch	...	May Rosenberg
John Rothman	...	Harold Rosenberg
John Heard	...	Tony Smith
Kenny Scharf	...	William Baziotes
Tom McGuinness	...	Franz Kline

Storyline

At the end of the 1940's, abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) is featured in Life magazine. Flashback to 1941, he's living with his brother in a tiny apartment in New York City, drinking too much, and exhibiting an occasional painting in group shows. That's when he meets artist Lee Krasner, who puts her career on hold to be his companion, lover, champion, wife, and, in essence, caretaker. To get him away from booze, insecurity, and the stress of city life, they move to the Hamptons where nature and sobriety help Pollock achieve a breakthrough in style: a critic praises, then Life magazine calls. But so do old demons: the end is nasty, brutish, and short.

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Plot Keywords:

painter | life magazine | artist | painting | pulitzer prize source | 

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Taglines:

A True Portrait of Life and Art.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures Classics

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pollock

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$44,244, 17 December 2000

Gross USA:

$8,598,593

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,994,533

Company Credits

Production Co:

Brant-Allen, Fred Berner Films, Pollock Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Ed Harris fell off the bicycle during the scene where Pollock is trying to ride home carrying a case of beer, you can see him looking at his hand as he gets up. In reality Harris had really hurt his hand, which was bleeding, and had to get 5 stitches.

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Goofs

When Lee asks the man to carve the turkey, he goes through the motions of cutting it, though the knife never touches the meat.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jackson Pollock: [drunk] Who's the greatest drummer in the world?
Sande Pollock: What?
Jackson Pollock: Krupa

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Connections

References Lost Horizon (1937)

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Soundtracks

The Mighty Blues
Improvisation
Performed by The Port of Harlem Jazzmen
Courtesy of Blue Note Records
By Arrangement with EMI Capitol Music Special Markets

User Reviews

As vivid and real as Hollywood is likely to make about the painter

Pollock (2000)

There's no question this is a well made film, and based pretty much on truth, and an interesting truth--the life of a great Abstract Expressionist. Some would say the greatest of them all.

For myself, this isn't enough, and I know this is me. I'm an art critic and professor of Art in my real life, and I'm never very patient with movies about artists. The reason isn't that there are inaccuracies, but that there is a subtle or not-subtle goal of aggrandizing the subject. This reaches a beautiful but, again, romanticized, peak when Pollock makes his famous break into true gestural, raw work in a large commissioned piece for Peggy Guggenheim (who is portrayed, oddly, as a shy and dull sort, which I've never pictured). Then later he makes his drip works. And then he dies, again over dramatized and made aesthetic, as tragic and ugly as it had to have been in life.

If you want to really get into Pollock's head, especially if you aren't already a fan (I love Pollock's work), this is a convincing movie. At the helm as both director and playing the artist is Ed Harris. He is especially believable as a painter, which is something of an important point. This isn't like those movies about musicians where the actor is clearly not playing. Harris actually paints the darned thing, the big masterpiece, on the cusp of the drip works. I don't know if Harris was drinking, too, but he's a good drunk, and of course Pollock was a better drinker than a painter, even.

It's a cheap shot to say a movie could have been shorter, but this one sure would have propelled better with less atmosphere, less filler that is meant to create his life but is interesting only as an illustration of historical facts. It wore me thin for those reasons. Again, it might be a matter of how much you can get sucked into the given drama that is Jackson Pollock's life. It was quite a life, crude, untempered, brave, and immensely connected to what matters as an artist.