Robert Redford Admits To Wearing Two Pairs Of Underpants As Protection Against Barbra Streisand During Their The Way We Were Sex Scenes
Robert Redford has revealed that he felt the need to protect himself when he was filming sex scenes with Barbra Streisand for their classic movie, The Way We Were, as his co-star was infatuated with him.
The 86-year-old Hollywood legend admitted that he was reluctant to work with Barbra back then, so he wore two athletic supporters before filming their bed scene. This is based on a new book.
Robert Hofler, author of The Way There Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen, gives fans some inside scoop on the many behind-the-scenes facts about the movie. The book was released on January 24.
The book covers the details of the painstaking pre-production of the movie, the actual filming, and then the post-production of the 1973 classic romantic movie. This movie earned Barbra an Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category.
According to the author, Robert initially didn’t want to get involved with a celebrity who, by Robert’s standards, was not a serious actress. The Lions for Lambs actor also shared that he tried to protect himself, given that he was a happily married man with four children.
On the other hand, Barbra was star-struck and mesmerized by Robert’s handsome demeanor and badly wanted to get on with the actor. According to Robert Hofler, Barbra even wore a bikini for the sex scene when Robert Redford felt the need for additional protection through his double underpants.
Robert Redford made sure that this particular scene was G-rated.
This classic movie, one of the movies that Robert Redford is famous for, was shot in 1972. Robert was then 36 years old, while Barbra was 30.
In the movie, Robert played Hubbell Gardiner, while Barbra brought to life the character of Katie Morosky.
The privileged Hubbell and the politically engaged Jew Katie fell in love and moved to California together, despite their many differences. They supported one another as Hubbel reached for his dream of becoming a screenwriter, that is until their old tensions started to catch up with them.
The movie was such a hit then that it won two Oscar Awards. Surprisingly, as revealed in the book, Robert was not even interested in the script and told the film’s director Sydney Pollack that Hubbell was “camp” and that the character was a “Ken Doll.”
It took Sydney eight months to woo Robert to accept the role, and one of the biggest challenges for the director then was Robert’s unwillingness to work with Barbra.
Robert then saw Barbra as not being serious, given that her previous movies were all considered lighter fare if not musicals. Back then, Barbra also earned a reputation for being controlling—factors that Robert believed wouldn’t work for them.
The actor even came to the point of clarifying if Barbra was going to sing in the movie. Finally, after much persuasion, Sydney could get Robert onboard but only because there was already the threat that they would offer his part to someone else—Ryan O’Neal. He also earned $1.2 million for the role, while Barbra was given a paycheck of $1 million to assuage his ego.
And the movie was a success. In fact, it was a hit!
A sequel was discussed, but once again, it was Robert’s hesitation that cut the idea short. He was not interested in making part two—ever.
