Dustin Hoffman details the grueling experience of shooting his breakout film The Graduate in his new autobiography, Look at Me.
The 89-year-old actor reflects on his 1967 debut in the social drama directed by Mike Nichols, where he played the shy college graduate Benjamin Braddock. Hoffman writes that he constantly felt Nichols was angry with him or viewed him as a bad piece of casting during the production.
Executives originally wanted a blonde heartthrob rather than a short, dark-haired Jewish actor with a prominent nose for the lead role. Despite those tensions, the film became a massive hit, earning Nichols the Academy Award for directing and securing Hoffman his first Oscar nomination.
“Everyone expected a blond heartthrob instead of a short, dark-haired Jew with a big nose for the lead role,” Hoffman writes in the memoir, according to juedische-allgemeine.de.
The role launched a major Hollywood career that included acclaimed films such as Midnight Cowboy, Papillon, All the President’s Men, and Tootsie. He later won two Academy Awards, taking home best actor for 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer and again in 1989 for his portrayal of an autistic man in Rain Man.
Troubled Childhood and Early Struggles in California
Hoffman grew up in Los Angeles after being born there in 1937, named after silent film actor Dustin Farnum. His father, Harry Hoffman, held frustrated ambitions of becoming a Hollywood director and eventually worked as a struggling furniture salesman.
His mother attempted to convince him to undergo a nose job around the age of twelve to make his life easier, leaving him with deep feelings of inadequacy.
He stumbled into the theater program at Santa Monica College simply because a friend told him acting classes were impossible to fail.
He enrolled at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1956, where he met fellow outcast Gene Hackman while drumming on the building’s roof. At age twenty, Hoffman moved to New York City to study under Lee Strasberg while sharing odd jobs with Hackman and Robert Duvall.
Behind the Scenes and Past Allegations
Co-authored with New Yorker journalist Ariel Levy, the 330-page book touches only briefly on historical accusations from women who claimed Hoffman sexually harassed them in the 1970s and 1980s. Hoffman states in the memoir that rumors circulated about him that were simply untrue, acknowledging that he possessed a crude sense of humor while insisting he considered himself harmless.
The actor also opens up about past drug use during heavy production schedules.
He admits that he used cocaine during the filming of Marathon Man in 1976 and notes that Steve McQueen smoked marijuana and used cocaine daily on the set of Papillon in 1973.
The title of his memoir stems from a conversation with veteran actor Laurence Olivier on the set of Marathon Man. Olivier whispered “Look at me, look at me” into his face, highlighting the fundamental desire of every performer to be seen by an audience.
Questions about the Look at Me memoir release
When is the memoir Look at Me scheduled for release?
The autobiography is published by Goldmann Verlag and scheduled for release on November 11.
Who co-authored the memoir with Dustin Hoffman?
Hoffman wrote the book alongside Ariel Levy, a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Which films earned Dustin Hoffman his Academy Awards?
He won his first Oscar for the 1979 divorce drama Kramer vs. Kramer and his second for the 1989 drama Rain Man.
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Dustin Hoffman says filming "The Graduate" was a "terrible experience,” even though the movie changed his life: “I felt immediately uncomfortable, unworthy. 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… pic.twitter.com/OFwd9y1ZqU”