Toot Toot Tootsie...Hello!
February 25, 2008

It’s always a pleasure when an anniversary edition of a film is issued and a sizable number of those involved in the production appear in the newly produced supplemental features. Such is the case with Sony’s just-released Tootsie: 25^th Anniversary Edition. This version of the grand cross-dressing social comedy delivers lots of star Dustin Hoffman and, yes, a sizable dose of director Sidney Pollack. But also onboard are co-writers Murray Schisgal and Larry Gelbart, as well as leading lady Jessica Lange and memorable co-stars Teri Garr and Dabney Coleman.

Still, over the course of 70 minutes of featurettes, it’s primarily Pollack and Hoffman’s show. An animated Hoffman recalls the origins of the film and its long gestation period and also introduces a vintage costume screen

Hoffman gets a little carried away when talking about sex roles in modern society and how his feelings on the issue inspired him to take on the role (he actually begins to gets misty-eyed at one point during his ramble). Pollack, on the other hand, recounts the more memorable stories about the film’s production. The best of these comes when he talks about how he didn’t want to portray the role of George Fields, Tootsie’s agent, in the movie. Interestingly, Coleman was originally cast for the Fields role (he went on to portray snobby soap director Ron Carlisle), but Hoffman was convinced that Pollack could do it. Pollack had been an actor some 20 years earlier, but did indeed need some convincing to take the role, and that came in the form of Hoffman sending him roses every day for more than a week. Pollack eventually took on the role …but it didn’t help alleviate the daily fights he was to have with Hoffman over the course of the shoot!

Posted by Laurence Lerman on February 25, 2008 | Comments (0)