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The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

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16<br />

Michael Polish<br />

Once Upon a Time in America<br />

Director Michael Polish is so enamored with Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a<br />

Time in America, and in particular James Woods’s performance in it, that<br />

Polish cast Woods in his own surreal epic, Northfork.<br />

Below, Polish talks about Leone’s fractured masterpiece, which was<br />

released in a condensed version in 1984, but then given new life with a<br />

restored version. He says of Leone, “If any film was going to kill him, it<br />

was Once Upon a Time in America. You can’t make a film like that, for that<br />

many years, and have it released at an hour and forty-five minutes and<br />

expect to have any reason to live after that.”<br />

Michael Polish, selected filmography:<br />

Twin Falls Idaho (1999)<br />

Jackpot (2001)<br />

Northfork (2003)<br />

<strong>The</strong> Astronaut Farmer (2006)<br />

<strong>The</strong> Smell of Success (2009)<br />

Once Upon a Time in America<br />

1984<br />

Directed by Sergio Leone<br />

Starring Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern,<br />

Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams, Danny<br />

Aiello, and more<br />

152

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