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1985–2008 · MIRAGE ENTERPRISES · CREDITS FROM THE CREDIT RECORD, NOT OBITUARIES ALONE
The producing record is separated from the directing and acting records, as the row requires, and printed at credit level. Pollack the director (The Way We Were, Tootsie, Out of Africa) and Pollack the actor (Michael Clayton, among others) stand in his general record; Pollack the producer is the following line. He founded Mirage Enterprises in 1985 — the company's own and the trade record agree on the year (the Empire trade account of the Minghella partnership states it in so many words: "Mirage, which was founded in 1985 by … Sydney Pollack"). Through Mirage he produced, among others: The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Presumed Innocent (1990, producer, directed by Alan J. Pakula), Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Iris (2001), Cold Mountain (2003 — produced by Sydney Pollack, William Horberg, Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, a Mirage Enterprises / Bona Fide production), Michael Clayton (2007, producer and actor), and The Reader (2008). The partnership the row names is dated from the trade record: Anthony Minghella joined Mirage as an equal partner in May 2001 (Screen Daily's appointment account; Variety's 2001 account has Minghella joining "last year" relative to its 2002 telling — the two datings stand adjacent and the May 2001 trade report is the more precise instrument). The studio first-look line is likewise from the trade record: Miramax signed a three-year first-look deal with Pollack and Minghella's Mirage, announced 14 December in the Cold Mountain season (Screen Daily), encompassing all of the pair's film-producing activities, on a relationship running from Sliding Doors (1998) through Ripley, Iris and The Quiet American. The credits run through death, as the row requires, and they run past it: Minghella died 18 March 2008 and Pollack on 26 May 2008, and The Reader — produced by both — was released after both deaths, earning each a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Producer versus executive producer is distinguished where the credit record distinguishes it: the titles above are producer credits on the catalogue record; Pollack's wider executive-producer line (including titles such as The Interpreter, 2005, where his credit on the filmography record is executive) is a separate, longer list and is not merged into the producer line here. The South Bend tie stands graded as in the roster: born Lafayette, raised in South Bend — the city this section may claim him for is the city that formed him, and Osceola's share of him is none, beyond the valley audience his films played to in Mishawaka and South Bend houses.
Sources: AFI Catalog / catalogue credit records and the filmography record for Sydney Pollack — producer credits as listed (The Fabulous Baker Boys; Presumed Innocent; Sense and Sensibility; The Talented Mr. Ripley; Iris; Cold Mountain, with Horberg, Berger and Yerxa; Michael Clayton; The Reader); executive-producer credits distinguished in the same record. Empire / Screen Daily trade accounts (2000–2003) — Mirage founded 1985; Minghella an equal partner from May 2001; the Miramax three-year first-look deal announced 14 December. Pollack biographical record — born Lafayette 1934, raised South Bend; died 26 May 2008; Minghella died 18 March 2008; The Reader's posthumous Best Picture nominations for both producers.