Sally Field says Burt Reynolds urged her to reject Oscar-winning ‘Norma Rae’ role

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress Sally Field recently opened up about how former partner and actor Burt Reynolds reacted negatively when she was offered a role that would later become one of the defining performances of her career.

Field revealed that Reynolds’ reaction to the project ultimately became a turning point in both her personal and professional life. She shared this while discussing her latest role in the Netflix film adaptation of 'Remarkably Bright Creatures,' released on Friday, May 8.

Sally Field reflects on Burt Reynolds’ attempts to influence her career choices

Field recalled that while she and Reynolds were together between 1976 and 1980, she received the script for 'Norma Rae,' the film based on the true story of a factory worker who becomes involved in union activism due to poor working conditions.

According to Field, Reynolds strongly objected to the role and reacted harshly after reading the script. “He didn’t want me to do Norma Rae and made negative remarks about the character’s past. He threw the script at me. He wanted to control me, and because I was standing up [to him], he said, ‘Boy, you’re letting this get the better of you.’ And I said, 'This is the better of me,'” Field said.

Field later met director Martin Ritt and went on to accept the role of Norma Rae Wilson. She described the moment as “the beginning of me finding my legs.”

Before the breakthrough, she starred alongside Reynolds in four films, but contends that she "really only did one movie with Burt," believing that she was "just a girl" in their collaborations after 1977's 'Smokey and the Bandit.'

"I just was stuck there because I was sort of stuck altogether, It was a very complicated relationship," she said. 

Field also revealed that Reynolds tried to convince her not to attend the Cannes Film Festival premiere of 'Norma Rae,' where the film received a standing ovation and she went on to win the first of many accolades. "It was a standing ovation for like 10 minutes, and I started to cry," she recalled. 

Sally Field’s Oscar success and end of her relationship with Burt Reynolds

The film went on to become a major success upon release, earning four Oscar nominations, with Field winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. Reynolds did not attend the ceremony, having previously declined to be present, and Field later noted that he was "not happy" with the attention she was receiving.

Field and Reynolds ended their relationship shortly after her Oscar win, with their on-again, off-again dynamic coming to a final close in 1982. Two years later, Field married her second husband, Alan Greisman, with whom she had a son, before divorcing in 1994.

Reynolds later married actress Loni Anderson in 1988, with that marriage lasting until 1994. Reflecting on their relationship, she said that during their five-year on-and-off period, “there were parts of Burt that were so wonderful and lovable, and then there were parts that were really frightening,” adding that the actor was "very much like" her stepfather, who had abused her as a child.

She further said Reynolds "was me exorcising my stepfather out of my brain." Speaking about the impact of her role in 'Norma Rae,' Field said, “Being Norma at that time was exactly what I needed, because to learn how to stand in her shoes, I think I said this [in her 2018 memoir In Pieces], I could feel my own legs."

“I could feel my body getting stronger. Because I was having to portray how she grew up, I started to grow up, and I eventually just wouldn't be manipulated and humiliated like that. And ultimately I left,” she concluded.