The arguments between Hoffman and Tootsie director Sydney Pollack (whom Hoffman persuaded to play the part of his agent in the film) are legendary. Pollack later credited Hoffman for improving the film but said:
Left: Hoffman with Tom Cruise on the set of Rain Man, the film that won him his second Oscar
Above: Sydney Pollack and Hoffman in Tootsie
something?’ It’s like they’re asking for permission to give their opinion.’”
Playing the role of Dorothy also helped change his perceptions of women – and to acknowledge his own shallowness. “I began to develop a back story for her and began to think that if I was this woman… any man I would be attracted to wouldn’t be attracted to me, because I wasn’t beautiful – I wouldn’t go up to myself at a party and start talking to me! I later realised how many interesting women I’d deprived myself of because they didn’t fit the standard of what I grew up to think of as attractive.”
For the part of an autistic savant in Rain Man Hoffman spent two years meeting families with autistic children and interviewing university experts. Even then he struggled to capture the character.
After two weeks of shooting he was so unhappy with his performance that he was ready to walk off the set. “I was awful. I was absolutely miserable and thinking: ‘Please, take me out of here.’”
Director Barry Levinson encouraged Hoffman and Tom Cruise to shoot a scene
without the script. “It was then I realised what I hadn’t realised before – that I had no clue how this character thought. Brando once said you can’t do a part until you know how that character thinks, how that character rationalises. I realised how out of sorts I was. How can you research these people for so long and wind up with zero?! We started to improvise – Tom was saying things, and I didn’t know how to answer him. I wanted to come back and say: ‘I’m gone, Barry. Tell the studio. I’ll pay the salary back.’
Barry chuckled and said: ‘You gotta watch this take.’ And what I had done, without realising it, was that in not knowing what to say I had said something – and I said the same thing over and over again.”
Hoffman repeats the line: “Yeah, yeah.” In those two words he is transformed on stage into the autistic Ray, eyes averted, feet shuffling – instantly recognisable. Watching the take, Hoffman knew he had finally unlocked the key to playing the character.
He starts to cry again as he recollects the relief. “It’s a marvellous feeling when you’re in a territory that you feel is right and you don’t know why it’s right.” The film earned him his second Oscar.
More recently Hoffman has used his skills to great comedic effect in Meet the Fockers. A clip is run in which the couple’s parents meet for the first time. Hoffman’s character is embarrassingly touchy and frank. De Niro and the rest of the cast look
“ I think Dustin feels that directors and actors are biological enemies, the way the mongoose and the cobra are enemies. He sees every picture as what he calls a ‘silent war’. I think if he would give a director half a chance and not assume that the director is trying to kill him he would see that most want exactly what he wants, which is the best possible picture.”
Robin Williams on Hoffman in Tootsie:
“ He created a totally believable character that was very modern and very believable and very funny.”
Hoffman endeared himself to Washington Post journalists during filming of All the President’s Men. One later wrote about how scathing she and her colleagues had been about Hoffman and co-star Robert Redford, but Hoffman’s humour won them over.
“ Someone asked him sneeringly if he thought he had gotten the hang of being a reporter, and he replied: ‘I think so. Can I borrow $10?’”
Winter 2012 — Informed | 17
Images: Everett Collection/Rex Features and Moviestore Collection/Rex Features