Pollock (film)

Pollock
Film poster
Directed by	Ed Harris
Screenplay by	Barbara Turner Susan Emshwiller
Based on	Jackson Pollock: An American Saga by Steven Naifeh Gregory White Smith
Produced by	Peter M. Brant
Starring	Ed Harris Marcia Gay Harden Tom Bower Jennifer Connelly Bud Cort John Heard Val Kilmer Robert Knott David Leary Amy Madigan Sally Murphy Molly Regan Stephanie Seymour Matthew Sussman Jeffrey Tambor Sada Thompson Norbert Weisser
Cinematography	Lisa Rinzler
Edited by	Kathryn Himoff
Music by	Jeff Beal
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	September 6, 2000 (2000-09-06)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$10.5 million[1]

Pollock is a 2000 American biographical film that tells the life story of American painter Jackson Pollock. It stars Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Connelly, 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, Pollock's wife. Ed Harris received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Pollock. The film was a long-term personal project for Harris based on his previous reading of Pollock's 1989 biography Jackson Pollock: An American Saga.

Plot[]

The film opens in medias res to abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, autographing a copy of Life magazine for a woman at his 1950 art exhibit.

Nine years earlier, Pollock exhibits paintings in occasional group art shows. He lives with his brother, Sande, and sister-in-law, Arloie, in a tiny New York apartment. Arloie says she and Sande are expecting a baby, hinting that Pollock should move out. 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 draft. Pollock goes on a drinking binge and is found in a disheveled state by Sande and Lee. Sande tells Lee that Pollock has been diagnosed as "clinically neurotic". Lee takes him home and becomes his manager.

One day, Pollock's old friend, Reuben Kadish, visits, 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 ft by 20 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, Pollock almost sleeps with Peggy, but is too drunk. He falls into another drunken stupor upon hearing that Putzel has died.

Pollock and Lee are wed after Lee says they either marry or "split up". After they move to Long Island, Pollock is dismayed that Lee does not want children. At 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 article about him is published and his upcoming exhibit. Lee and Pollock's marriage is strained after he openly flirts with another woman. Meanwhile, to earn 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, Hans Namuth films Pollock as he paints, though Namuth's presence interrupts the spontaneous nature of Pollock's work. Pollock, who tried abstaining from alcohol, begins drinking again and ruins Thanksgiving dinner.

Five years after the 1950 exhibit, Clement tells Pollock that the Partisan Review is favoring artist Clyfford Still, and says his original technique could be the next direction of modern art. A drunk Pollock reacts badly, and becomes even angrier when Lee berates him for his drinking and womanizing. Pollock blames Lee because she will not have a child. Lee knows about his affair with Ruth Kligman, but refuses to divorce Jackson. In 1956, Lee calls Pollock while she is in Venice. After, he tells Ruth, "I owe the woman something". On a subsequent visit, Ruth brings along her friend, Edith. The three go for a drive, but Pollock is drunk and crashes the car, killing himself and Edith, and throwing Ruth from the car, seriously injuring her.

Cast[]

Production[]

The film was adapted by 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 long term dream of Ed Harris.^[2] After his father gave him a copy of Pollock's biography, he started thinking about the project, 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.^[3]

Harris himself did all the painting seen in the film.^[3]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

Pollock received positive reviews from critics and has a "certified fresh" score of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 108 reviews with an average rating of 7/10. The critical consensus states, "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."^[4] The film also has a score of 77 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 31 critics indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[5]

Box office[]

Pollock opened on December 15, 2000 in North America 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.^[1]

Accolades[]

Marcia Gay Harden won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Lee Krasner, Pollock's wife.^[6] Ed Harris was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.^[6]

Harden was also nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards and won at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards while Harris won the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.^[6]

Soundtrack[]

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

References[]

External links[]

• Pollock at IMDb
• Pollock at AllMovie
• Pollock at Box Office Mojo
• Breathing fire into an artist