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Physically, he’s changed again. The face more drawn, the skin more wan, and he’s gained weight in the oddest way. His face, arms, legs, and butt are skinny, but his stomach – his stomach has ballooned. He looks three months’ pregnant. His belly is huge and tight as a drum, as though his shirt has been buttoned with difficulty over a basketball. Cassavetes is a man of immense ego but little vanity. He either won’t or can’t get that stomach down, but he does nothing (like wear looser shirts) to hide it. He intends to play the belly as part of his Love Streams costume. The film’s Robert Harmon will be weighed down with Cassavetes’ belly, and on Robert Harmon it will be an emblem of the dead weight of his life. Cassavetes
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Michael Ventura (Cassavetes Directs: John Cassavetes and the Making of Love Streams)