Pollock (2000)

Actors: Marcia Gay Harden (actress), Ed Harris (producer), Annabelle Gurwitch (actress), Val Kilmer (actor), Norbert Weisser (actor), Amy Madigan (actress), Jennifer Connelly (actress), Bud Cort (actor), Tom Bower (actor), John Rothman (actor), Ed Harris (actor), Jeffrey Tambor (actor), John Heard (actor), Jeff Beal (composer), Jon Kilik (producer),

Plot: 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.

Keywords: 1940s, 1950s, abstract-painting, adultery, alcohol, alcoholism, art, art-critic, art-show, artist
Genres: Biography, Drama,
Taglines: A True Portrait of Life and Art.

Quotes:

Jackson Pollock: Fuck Picasso.

Lee Krasner: Jackson Pollock, I'm Lee Krasner. I thought I knew all the outstanding artists in New York and I don't know Jackson Pollock.

Tony Smith: What do you think of Picasso?::Jackson Pollock: Yeah, he has been.::Tony Smith: DeKooning?::Jackson Pollock: He's alright, he's learning.

Peggy Guggenheim: I have just climbed up and down five flights of stairs. I'm Peggy Guggenheim...::Lee Krasner: We're sorry.::Peggy Guggenheim: [to Pollock] My God and you're drunk.::Jackson Pollock: No.::Lee Krasner: No.

Clem Greenberg: What you're doing is the most original and vigorous art in the country.::Jackson Pollock: We're broke!::Clem Greenberg: Yeah, keep at it.::Jackson Pollock: Keeping at it... don't tell me to keep at it!

Lee Krasner: [seeing his breakthrough painting] You've done it, Pollock. You've cracked it wide open.

Peggy Guggenheim: [before love making] I think you don't realize how hard I worked to get people interested in your work.

Jackson Pollock: [referring to Lee] I'm dead without her.::Ruth Kligman: But I'm the one who loves you, Jackson.

Jackson Pollock: If people would just look at the paintings, I don't think they would have any trouble enjoying them. It's like looking at a bed of flowers, you don't tear your hair out over what it means.

interviewer: How do you respond to some of your critics? They have said a mop of tangled hair, a child's contour map of the battle of Gettysburg, cathartic disintegration, degenerate. What do you say to that?::Jackson Pollock: You forgot baked macaroni.