Editing Pollock (film)

{{Short description|2000 film directed by Ed Harris}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Pollock
| image          = Pollock_imp.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Ed Harris]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* James Francis Trezza<ref name="afi">{{cite web|title=Pollock (2000)|website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|access-date=10 March 2024|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61802-POLLOCK?sid=eaf3f169-1325-4a06-bab9-0d13eebd07d7&sr=11.101208&cp=1&pos=0}}</ref>
* [[Fred Berner]]<ref name="afi"/>
* Ed Harris<ref name="afi"/>
* [[Jon Kilik]]<ref name="afi"/>
}}
| screenplay     = {{plainlist|
* [[Barbara Turner (actress)|Barbara Turner]]
* Susan J. Emshwiller
}}
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[Jackson Pollock: An American Saga]]''|Steven Naifeh<br>Gregory White Smith}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
* Ed Harris
* [[Marcia Gay Harden]]
* [[Tom Bower (actor)|Tom Bower]]
* [[Jennifer Connelly]]
* [[Bud Cort]]
* [[John Heard (actor)|John Heard]]
* [[Val Kilmer]]
* Robert Knott
* David Leary
* [[Amy Madigan]]
* Sally Murphy
* Molly Regan
* [[Stephanie Seymour]]
* [[Matthew Sussman]]
* [[Jeffrey Tambor]]
* [[Sada Thompson]]
* [[Norbert Weisser]]
}}
| music          = [[Jeff Beal]]
| cinematography = Lisa Rinzler
| editing        = Kathryn Himoff
| studio        = {{Plainlist|
* Zeke Films<ref name="afi"/>
* Brant-Allen Films<ref name="afi"/>
* Fred Berner Films<ref name="afi"/>
}}
| distributor    = [[Sony Pictures Classics]]
| released       = {{Film date|2000|9|6|[[Venice Film Festival|Venice]]|2000|12|15|United States}}
| runtime        = 122 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = $10.5 million<ref name="boxofficemojo.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=pollock.htm |title=Pollock |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=boxofficemojo.com |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=August 30, 2016 }}</ref>
}}

'''''Pollock ''''' is a 2000 American [[Independent film|independent]] [[biographical drama]] film centered on the life of American painter [[Jackson Pollock]], his struggles with [[alcoholism]], as well as his troubled marriage to his wife [[Lee Krasner]]. The film stars [[Ed Harris]], [[Marcia Gay Harden]], [[Jennifer Connelly]], [[Val Kilmer]], Robert Knott, [[Bud Cort]], Molly Regan, and [[Sada Thompson]], and was directed by Harris.

Marcia Gay Harden won the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for portraying Lee Krasner. Ed Harris received an Academy Award nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] for his portrayal of Pollock. The film was a long-term personal project for Harris based on his reading of the 1989 biography ''[[Jackson Pollock: An American Saga]]'', written by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith.

==Plot==
In the 1940s, [[Abstract expressionism|abstract expressionist]] painter [[Jackson Pollock]] exhibits paintings in occasional group art shows.

Pollock lives with his brother Sande and sister-in-law Arloie at a tiny apartment in [[New York City]]. With Arloie expecting a new baby, Pollock decides to move out on her behalf. Soon afterward, Pollock meets and takes an interest in artist [[Lee Krasner]]. He learns later that his brother has taken a job in [[Connecticut]] building military gliders to avoid the [[Conscription in the United States|draft]].

Pollock, a struggling alcoholic, goes on a drinking binge and is found in a disheveled state by Sande and Lee to which Sande tells Lee that Pollock has been diagnosed as "clinically [[neurosis|neurotic]]." Taking pity on Pollock, Lee takes him home and becomes his manager.

One day, Pollock's old friend Reuben Kadish visits him, bringing along Howard Putzel, who works for wealthy art collector [[Peggy Guggenheim]]. After Guggenheim views his work, he is given a contract to exhibit his paintings, plus a commission to paint a 8&nbsp;ft by 20&nbsp;ft mural in her New York [[townhouse]] entry way. Pollock's first exhibit fails to attract any buyers. After a [[New Year's Eve]] party, a drunken Pollock almost sleeps with Peggy. Afterwards, he falls into another stupor upon hearing that Putzel has died.

Pollock and Lee are wed after Lee says they either marry or "split up" before moving to [[Long Island]]. During a get-together at Peggy's, Pollock dismisses art critic [[Clement Greenberg]]'s comments and refuses to change his painting style to be more marketable. Pollock's paintings are not selling but Clement assures him it will change after a ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine article about him is published and his upcoming exhibit.

Pollock and Lee's relationship is strained after he openly flirts with another woman. Meanwhile, to earn more income, Pollock tries various occupations but fails due to his alcoholism. He lies to Sande about his financial status, though this improves after the ''Life'' story about him is published. Later, cinematographer [[Hans Namuth]] films Pollock as he paints, though Namuth's presence interrupts the spontaneous nature of his work. Pollock, who tried abstaining from alcohol, inadvertently ruins [[Thanksgiving]] dinner upon relapsing.

''[[In medias res]]'' to the events of the film, Pollock autographs a copy of the ''Life'' magazine to a fan at an art exhibit in 1950. Five years after the exhibit, Clement tells Pollock that the ''[[Partisan Review]]'' is favoring artist [[Clyfford Still]], saying that his original technique could be the next direction of modern art.

A drunk Pollock reacts badly, becoming angrier when Lee berates him for his drinking and womanizing. By this moment, Pollock's marriage to Lee has become even more strained due to her refusal to conceive children with him, all of which has led Pollock to start an [[extramarital affair]] with abstract artist [[Ruth Kligman]].

In 1956, following a conversation with Lee over the phone while she is in [[Venice]], Pollock tells Ruth "I owe the woman something." On a subsequent visit, Ruth brings along her friend Edith before the three go for a drive. An intoxicated Pollock crashes the car, killing himself and Edith, and throwing Ruth into a ditch, seriously injuring her.

A textual epilogue reveals Lee never remarried following Pollock's death.

==Cast==
{{castlist|
* [[Ed Harris]] as [[Jackson Pollock]]
* [[Marcia Gay Harden]] as [[Lee Krasner]]
* [[Tom Bower (actor)|Tom Bower]] as Dan Miller
* [[Jennifer Connelly]] as [[Ruth Kligman]]
* [[Bud Cort]] as Howard Putzel
* [[John Heard (actor)|John Heard]] as [[Tony Smith (sculptor)|Tony Smith]]
* [[Val Kilmer]] as [[Willem de Kooning]]
* [[Amy Madigan]] as [[Peggy Guggenheim]]
* Sally Murphy as Edith Metzger
* [[Stephanie Seymour]] as [[Helen Frankenthaler]]
* [[Matthew Sussman]] as [[Reuben Kadish]]
* [[Jeffrey Tambor]] as [[Clement Greenberg]]
* [[Norbert Weisser]] as [[Hans Namuth]]
* [[Everett Quinton]] as [[James Johnson Sweeney]]
* [[Annabelle Gurwitch]] as May Rosenberg
* [[John Rothman]] as [[Harold Rosenberg]]
* [[Kenny Scharf]] as [[William Baziotes]]
* [[Sada Thompson]] as Stella Pollock
* Robert O'Neill as [[Herbert Matter]]
}}

==Production==
The film was adapted by [[Barbara Turner (actress)|Barbara Turner]] and Susan Emshwiller from the book ''[[Jackson Pollock: An American Saga]]'' by [[Steven Naifeh]] and [[Gregory White Smith]].  It was directed by Harris.

This film was a longtime passion project for Ed Harris.<ref>Sony Pictures production notes. {{cite web |url=http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/pollock/ |title=Pollock |access-date=2006-12-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108165838/http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/pollock/ |archive-date=2007-01-08 }}</ref> After his father gave him a copy of Pollock's biography, he started thinking about adapting it, which took almost 10 years to bring to fruition.

Filming took a mere 50 days with a six-week layoff after forty days so Harris could take time to gain thirty pounds and grow a beard.<ref name="interview">[https://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/actor_ed_harris.html Interview with Ed Harris] at DVDtalk</ref>

Harris himself did all the painting seen in the film.<ref name="interview"/>

==Reception==
===Critical response===
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|79|6.9|111|Though ''Pollock'' does not really allow audiences a glimpse of the painter as a person, it does powerfully depict the creative process. Harris throws himself into the role and turns in a compelling performance.}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pollock/|title = Pollock | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=13 February 2025}}</ref> {{Metacritic film prose|77|31}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/pollock|title=Pollock|website=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=13 February 2025}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film four out of four stars and wrote, "''Pollock'' is confident, insightful work–one of the year's best films. Harris is always a good actor but here seems possessed, as if he had a leap of empathy for Pollock. His direction is assured, economical, knows where it's going and what it wants to do. No fancy visual gimmicks, just the look and feel of this world."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pollock-2001|title=Pollock|first=Roger|last=Ebert|website=[[RogerEbert.com]]|date=16 February 2001|access-date=13 February 2025}}</ref>

===Box office===
''Pollock'' opened on December 15, 2000 in the US and Canada in a [[limited release]] in 2 theaters and grossed $44,244 with an average of $22,122 per theater and ranking #37 at the box office. The film's widest release was 280 theaters and it ended up earning $8,598,593 domestically and $1,960,377 internationally for a total of $10,558,970.<ref name="boxofficemojo.com"/>

===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[73rd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]<ref name="Oscars2001">{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2001 |title=The 73rd Academy Awards (2001) Nominees and Winners |work=Oscars.org |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences}}</ref>
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| [[Ed Harris]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Marcia Gay Harden]]
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="2"| Awards Circuit Community Awards
| Best Actor in a Leading Role
| Ed Harris
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Actress in a Supporting Role
| Marcia Gay Harden
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Camerimage]]
| Golden Frog
| Lisa Rinzler
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[16th Independent Spirit Awards|Independent Spirit Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/SA_SubForm_etc/2021_SA_ALLNomineesWinners_063021.pdf |title=36 Years of Nominees and Winners |website=[[Independent Spirit Awards]] |access-date=August 13, 2021}}</ref>
| [[Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female|Best Supporting Female]]
| rowspan="3"| Marcia Gay Harden
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[2000 National Society of Film Critics Awards|National Society of Film Critics Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalsocietyoffilmcritics.com/about-2/ |title=Past Awards |website=[[National Society of Film Critics]] |date=19 December 2009 |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| {{draw|3rd Place}}
|-
| [[2000 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?awardyear=2000 |title=2000 New York Film Critics Circle Awards |website=[[New York Film Critics Circle]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| {{won}}
|-
| Online Film & Television Association Awards<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oftaawards.com/film-awards/5th-annual-film-awards-2000/ |title=5th Annual Film Awards (2000) |website=Online Film & Television Association |access-date=May 15, 2021}}</ref>
| Best Actor
| rowspan="3"| Ed Harris
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[5th Golden Satellite Awards|Satellite Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards2001.shtml |title=International Press Academy website – 2001 5th Annual SATELLITE Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201175700/http://www.pressacademy.com/satawards/awards2001.shtml|archive-date=1 February 2008}}</ref>
| [[Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture|Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2001|Toronto Film Critics Association Awards]]<ref name="TFCA Awards 2001">{{cite web|url=http://torontofilmcritics.com/blog/2001/12/21/tfca-awards-2001/|title=TFCA Awards 2001|publisher=torontofilmcritics.com|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006010525/http://torontofilmcritics.com/blog/2001/12/21/tfca-awards-2001/|archivedate=2011-10-06}}</ref>
| [[Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor|Best Male Performance]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[World Soundtrack Awards 2001|World Soundtrack Awards]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldsoundtrackawards.com/awards/awards-2 |title=World Soundtrack Awards |publisher=[[World Soundtrack Awards]] |accessdate=December 18, 2021}}</ref>
| [[World Soundtrack Award for Discovery of the Year|Discovery of the Year]]
| [[Jeff Beal]]
| {{nom}}
|}

==Soundtrack==
The soundtrack to ''Pollock'' was released on February 13, 2001.

{{Track listing
| extra_column    = Artist
| total_length    =  44:33<ref>[https://www.allmusic.com/album/pollock-original-soundtrack-mw0000624996 Pollock Soundtrack] TheOST. Retrieved February 1, 2014</ref>

| title1          = Alone in a Crowd
| length1         = 2:14
| extra1          = [[Jeff Beal]]

| title2          = Beauty from Pain
| length2         = 1:55
| extra2          = Jeff Beal

| title3          = One Man Show
| length3         = 2:02
| extra3          = Jeff Beal

| title4          = The Window
| length4         = 1:37
| extra4          = Jeff Beal

| title5          = Stroke of Genius
| length5         = 3:57
| extra5          = Jeff Beal

| title6          = Plant Your Garden
| length6         = 2:12
| extra6          = Jeff Beal

| title7          = Stroke by Stroke
| length7         = 2:45
| extra7          = Jeff Beal

| title8          = Breaking the Rules
| length8         = 2:27
| extra8          = Jeff Beal

| title9          = Art of This Century
| length9         = 1:04
| extra9          = Jeff Beal

| title10         = The Look
| length10        = 2:45
| extra10         = Jeff Beal

| title11         = A Life's Work
| length11        = 1:27
| extra11         = Jeff Beal

| title12         = Empty
| length12        = 2:42
| extra12         = Jeff Beal

| title13         = A Letter from Lee
| length13        = 1:52
| extra13         = Jeff Beal

| title14         = The World Keeps Turning
| length14        = 4:14
| extra14         = Jeff Beal / [[Kathleen Brennan]] / [[Tom Waits]]

| title15         = Unfinished
| length15        = 4:08
| extra15         = Jeff Beal

| title16         = The Mural Goes on and On
| length16        = 2:41
| extra16         = Jeff Beal

| title17         = She Played the Banjo
| length17        = 4:31
| extra17         = Jeff Beal
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0183659|Pollock}}
* {{mojo title|pollock|Pollock}}
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/reviews/movies/POLLOCK.DTL&type=movies Breathing fire into an artist]

{{Jackson Pollock}}
{{Authority control}}

<!--Split film/book article intentional - Please do not remove this comment-->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock}}
[[Category:2000 films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s biographical films]]
[[Category:2000 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:American biographical films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:Biographical films about painters]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of 20th-century painters]]
[[Category:Sony Pictures Classics films]]
[[Category:Films about alcoholism]]
[[Category:Films based on biographies]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ed Harris]]
[[Category:2000 independent films]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award–winning performance]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jeff Beal]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1940s]]
[[Category:Films set in 1941]]
[[Category:Films set in 1942]]
[[Category:Films set in 1943]]
[[Category:Films set in 1945]]
[[Category:Films set in 1947]]
[[Category:Films set in 1949]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Films set in 1950]]
[[Category:Films set in 1956]]
[[Category:Films set on Long Island]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Jackson Pollock]]
[[Category:Films about mental health]]
[[Category:Films produced by Jon Kilik]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:English-language biographical films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]