Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand played lovers. He thought she was 'infatuated' with him.

Fifty years after one of the greatest romantic films The Way We Were was released, there have been some behind-the-scenes 'home truths' released as well. 

The 1973 Oscar-winning movie, starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand and directed by Sydney Pollack, is a sweeping saga about the relationship between Katie (Streisand) and Hubbell (Redford). It takes place over a number of years, and SPOILER ALERT, at the end of the film the two characters are not together and have not been together for a long time. The memory of their past relationship is all that remains, thus the title The Way We Were.

Watch the trailer for The Way We Were. Story continues below.

Given the success of the film and how it has permeated pop culture, there has been considerable interest in Robert Hofler's recently released 'tell-all' book The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen.

Yes, it's a mouthful of a title.

According to Hofler's book, a multitude of things went wrong on the film, including the cast being 'difficult', a convoluted plot, on-set tension, and production issues. Here's what we learned about the drama behind this romantic drama.

Redford did not want to work with Streisand.

The then 36-year-old Redford did not think the then 30-year-old Streisand was a 'serious actress' because her previous roles were light and fluffy and mostly to do with musicals.

"Her reputation is as a very controlling person. She will direct herself. It'll never work," Redford reportedly said. "She's not going to sing, is she? I don't want her to sing in the middle of the movie."

It took eight months and 1.2 million dollars (as opposed to Streisand's 1 million) to get the actor on board. Even then, he refused to meet with Streisand because he believed in 'the strangeness that contributes to chemistry' between actors.

Streisand was 'infatuated' with Redford.

The pair eventually met, and Streisand was immediately 'infatuated' with her married co-star.

Redford knew about Streisand's crush on him and told her, "If we're going to be able to work together, you have to keep in mind that anything I tell you about myself will be volunteered because I want you to know it. Not because you think you have some kind of right to know it."

This didn't deter Streisand, who 'loved strong men', according to Hofler.

According to the book, a crew member said, "Barbra Streisand was a star who reportedly had affairs with many of her leading men."

A scene from The Way We Were. Image: Sony.

Redford wore two pairs of underwear to 'protect himself' from Streisand.

During a sex scene for the film, Redford allegedly 'doubled up on the jock straps to protect himself in more ways than one' and Streisand wore a bikini.

The scene was apparently filmed a number of times, which made Redford annoyed and he lost patience with the process. Director Pollack had to inform Streisand they had the scene in the bag.

Redford did not want to say a particular line in the film.

In the second sex scene, when the characters are feeding each other grapes, Redford was supposed to say the line: "It will be better this time." 

But, fearing that the audience would think he - Redford the person, not his character - was 'bad' in bed, the actor refused to say it.

"Redford was never bad in bed. So how could Hubbell be?" Hofler wrote.

The producer, Ray Stark, tried to get Redford to utter the line as it would show Hubbell's 'humanity'. Stark sent numerous messages to Pollack to try to convince Redford, but still, the actor refused point-blank.

Both Redford and Streisand preferred the left side of their faces.

According to the book, both leads wanted to be filmed from the left because they preferred how the left side of their faces looked. Which is weird, because they'd have to look at each other at one point, meaning they couldn't BOTH be on the left all the time.

Cinematographer Harry Stradling Jr. revealed that in one of the scenes, they had to set up a number of canopies to block the light from hitting Streisand's face because 'her nose looked terrible'. 

The book states that Redford preferred his left because of the three moles on the right side of his face.

Streisand wanted to make a sequel but Redford did not.

Given the box office success of The Way We Were, it was inevitable that talk of a sequel would come up. This is Hollywood of course.

But Redford shot the sequel down quickly, saying he never had any interest. "I didn't, but Barbra did," he said.

Maybe some things should just be left the way they were.

Feature image: Sony/The Way We Were.