"Bookends", alongside the "Graduate" soundtrack, made Simon & Garfunkel the biggest rock duo in the world. Simon was approached by producers to write music for films or license songs; he turned down Franco Zeffirelli, who was preparing to film "Brother Sun, Sister Moon", and John Schlesinger, who was preparing to film "Midnight Cowboy". In addition to Hollywood proposals, Simon declined a request by producers from the Broadway show "Jimmy Shine" (starring Simon's friend Dustin Hoffman, also the lead in "Midnight Cowboy"). He collaborated briefly with Leonard Bernstein on a sacred mass before withdrawing from the project due to "finding it perhaps too far afield from his comfort zone".