Just because you agree to be in a film, doesn’t mean you agree to every facet of it. Robert Redford made one demand of romance movie The Way We Were because of how he felt a line reflected on him. That’s according to the book The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen, at least.
“Never spoken was a line that [Arthur] Laurents had put in both his novel and his screenplay, and it was a line that he wanted to cap the scene,” reads the book, by Robert Hofler. “Hubbell looks into Katie’s [Barbra Streisand] eyes after their orgy of grapes and tells her, ‘It’ll be better this time.’ Only Redford refused to say the line. He even made sure to have it crossed out in the working script.”
Redford has somewhat of a reputation for doing this, considering he declined to wear a Native American headdress in drama movie The Candidate because he believed it’d indicate he didn’t have integrity. Even though this is fiction, there are some things you don’t want any association with.
Barbara Streisand starred opposite Redford in The Way We Were, which is now 50 years old. The rom-com had some production issues, besides Redford’s character suggestions, hence a full printed retelling.
Sydney Pollack directed the picture, written by Arthur Laurents. Pollack comments that Streisand had a bit of a thing for Redford in the drama movie. “Barbra was delighted because she had a crush on him, even before we started. It was hard for women not to have a fixation, because he was everywhere, like Elvis. He was the golden boy long before Hubbell came along.”
Our new movies guide can show you similar stars of today, and our list of the best romance anime for more lovebirds.