SYDNEY POLLACK - POLLACK: 'HOW I WON OVER THE UNITED NATIONS'

Veteran director SYDNEY POLLACK broke UNITED NATIONS protocol when he persuaded Secretary General KOFI ANNAN to allow him to film THE INTERPRETER inside the closely guarded UN building - with the help of NICOLE KIDMAN.

The 70-year-old film-maker initially ditched the idea of using the prestigious New York site as a location, after hearing filming had always been forbidden inside the building - even ALFRED HITCHCOCK was rebuffed when he wanted to shoot parts of his 1959 thriller NORTH BY NORTHWEST there.

But Pollack couldn't find an authentic alternative for his movie, and decided to try his luck with the powers that be.

He recalls, "I tried talking myself into thinking we could make do with a ridiculous computer-generated version of the UN.

"But I just got p**sed off with it, and although I thought it would be a wild-goose chase, I tried to figure out a way to get to Kofi Annan."

After finally arranging a meeting with Annan, Pollack and Kidman, who stars in the movie, won the UN Secretary General round.

Pollack adds, "I told him it had political content but it was a Hollywood thriller with movie stars and guns and good guys and bad guys and all that stuff.

"I think he trusted I wasn't going to make a film where people were ripping each other's clothes off on the floor of the General Assembly."