Robert Redford Initially Passed on ‘The Way We Were’ Role, Called His Character ‘Shallow’ and ‘an Object,’ Says Barbra Streisand: ‘I Was Heartbroken’

variety.com:

Jaden Thompson Barbra Streisand revealed in her upcoming memoir “My Name is Barbra” the lengths she went to in order to cast Robert Redford in Sydney Pollack’s 1973 romantic drama “The Way We Were,” even after he initially refused the part. “The Way We Were” stars Streisand and Redford as Katie and Hubbell, an unlikely couple who fall in love and marry against the backdrop of various political and historical events. “Bob is that rare combination… an intellectual cowboy… a charismatic star who is also one of the finest actors of his generation,” Streisand wrote in her memoir (via Vanity Fair). “But like my husband, he’s almost apologetic about his looks, and I liked that about him.” She continued, “So I wanted Redford for Hubbell.

But he turned it down.” Streisand turned to Pollack, who was friends with Redford, to help convince him to take the part. “I have to give Sydney credit,” she admitted. “He was as persistent as I was, because we both felt that only Redford would make the picture work.” Streisand explained in her memoir that Redford considered Hubbell “an object” without aspirations or adequate depth.

Wrote Streisand, “Bob was concerned that the script was so focused on Katie that Hubbell’s character was underdeveloped. (He was right.) Bob asked Sydney, ‘Who is this guy?