SYDNEY POLLACK - POLLACK QUITS ELECTION MOVIE

Filmmaker SYDNEY POLLACK has pulled out of a film based on the 2000 U.S. presidential election after being struck down with a mystery illness. The Oscar-winning director was due to produce a film depicting the harrowing weeks after the November election that sealed George W. Bush's victory over Al Gore in Florida for cable channel HBO. But a spokesman for Pollack says he has withdrawn from the project for health reasons.