on mortified and with nervous anticipation. It transpires that the nervousness was genuine. Hoffman – once again unhappy with the original script – was improvising, and no-one knew what was coming next.
“Ben [Stiller] couldn’t get rid of me, and I wanted to get physical with Bob and touch his pecs,” he laughs. It transpires that Focker Snr. and Hoffman have a lot in common. “He’s an aspect of me. My kids said: ‘You finally played yourself, Dad!’ I don’t censor myself many times in life, and it’s most fun when I don’t.”
But then Hoffman believes actors should always play themselves to some extent. “When you’re acting and pretending to be a so-called character you’re doing certain character things, but behind it you’re going through the scrim or illusion of a character yourself. You’re just taking on the clothing of it. If you don’t stand behind it you’re not there. You’re doing some fiction. You’re not embodying it.”
After so many years rewriting scripts and frustrating directors with his striving for perfection, it is surprising it has taken Hoffman till this year to direct his own movie, Quartet.
The film was inspired by a documentary Hoffman saw about life in a retirement home for elderly opera singers that had been established and first funded by the composer Verdi.
“You see these people whose bodies are compromised by age in their 80s and 90s and somewhat infirm – and then suddenly they start to sing, and this rejection of mortality comes out in a force that is one of the most moving things I’ve ever seen. I said: ‘That’s a movie worth making.’ It’s that spirit I wanted to somehow touch.”
The film stars Tom Courtney, Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly, Michael Gambon and Pauline Collins. Hoffman insisted all the other elderly characters would be retired musicians. “Everyone on screen is the real thing,” he says. “They’re really singing and playing. They’re in their 70s, 80s and 90s. We found these people. No-one had rung their phone in 30 years. One of the best examples is Ronnie Hughes, who plays trumpet in the movie
Actress Pauline Collins – famous for the role of Shirley Valentine – on working with Hoffman in Quartet:
“ Dustin is a dynamo and a darling. He is one of the most inspiring and kindest directors I have ever worked for, because he understands how actors work.”
– and that’s him playing. He’s 83 years old. He still has chops, but no-one calls him! It’s something I’m mystified by.”
Hoffman is enraged by a society that ends the careers of performers – and particularly women actors – needlessly early. “You’re not allowed to age and be a participant in life. What is there in our culture that needs to eliminate people after a certain age? It doesn’t matter if they can still do it – there’s a desire to write them out.”
Early reviews of Quartet have been favourable, and Hoffman has been warmly
applauded for his directorial debut. At the age of 75, it would seem he is in no danger of being written out himself yet.
‘BAFTA: A life in pictures – Dustin Hoffman’ was sponsored by Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management.
Above: With Pauline Collins and Maggie Smith at the Quartet photocall in London earlier this year
Below: Highlights from ‘BAFTA: A Life in Pictures – Dustin Hoffman’