Dustin Hoffman is opening up about the “terrible experience” he had while filming “The Graduate,” a film he said “exacerbated all my insecurities from the start.”
In a recent essay written for The New Yorker, the 89-year-old actor reflected on his experience making the film, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award win, noting he “felt immediately uncomfortable” and “unworthy” on set.
“Here I was, playing a starring role in a movie by Mike Nichols, who was the director of the moment, but I felt like I had no right to be there,” he wrote. “It was a terrible experience making the movie that changed my life.”
He went on to explain that a lot of his time on set was spent wondering if director, Nichols, “was angry at me,” because he was either “doing something wrong” or had finally noticed what Hoffman and “everybody else already knew, that he had miscast the lead in his film.”
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The “Rain Man” star felt he was wrong for the part from the start, admitting he “didn’t even want to try out for the part,” saying he thought “it was obvious” to him after reading the novel the film is based on “that I was all wrong for Benjamin.”
“A track star and straight-A student, the head of the debate team—this was an affluent, all-American kid, whose surname was ‘Braddock,’” he said. “Why would you cast a person who looks as ethnic as I do to play the ultimate Wasp? It made absolutely no sense.”
Part of what made the experience so bad for Hoffman was his relationship with the director, who he said was “irritable with everyone,” and was “frequently sour” on set.
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The director’s attitude often led to Hoffman feel “that I was about to be fired,” as the actor found himself “thinking, I have no f- – -ing idea what I’m doing,” while filming some of the most well-known scenes in the movie.
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Hoffman also recalled feeling as if the director had a “certain sadism” that was directed mostly towards him.
“There was a scene in which Katharine Ross had to slap me, and he made us do twenty-seven takes. The scene has Benjamin run into Elaine’s room, soaking wet from the rain, to tell her that he’s had an affair with an older woman; within seconds, Elaine realizes the woman is her mother,” he said. “Mike just kept telling Katharine to hit me, to hit me harder. Katharine worried she would hurt me, and I told her, ‘I’m O.K. Just don’t hit my ear.’ Unfortunately, she missed a few times. I was dizzy by the end of that day, and Mike didn’t even use the slap in the film.”
The next day, Hoffman was scheduled to film a scene underwater, which left him with “blood trickling out of my ear,” which later turned out to be a punctured eardrum.
“The Graduate” went on to become one of Hoffman’s most well-known films. The movie follows Hoffman’s character, Benjamin, a recent college graduate who is struggling to find direction post graduation and is seduced by an older housewife and friend of his parents.
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Following its release in 1967, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best actor for Hoffman and best actress for Anne Bancroft, and ultimately earned Nichols a statue for best director.