Dustin Hoffman says filming “The Graduate” was a deeply difficult experience, despite the 1967 movie later becoming a classic and earning him his first Academy Award nomination.
In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, “Look at Me,” obtained by The New Yorker, Hoffman wrote that he often felt he was close to being fired while working with director Mike Nichols. He said Nichols changed noticeably once production began, shifting from being “wonderful” to highly critical in a way Hoffman found shocking and destabilizing.
The actor recalled living in a state of constant anxiety and worrying that Nichols believed he had been miscast as Benjamin Braddock. Hoffman also said theatre director Ulu Grosbard, after visiting the set, told him Nichols was strongly regretting hiring him.
Hoffman remembered receiving criticism over details including his eyebrows and the appearance of his neck. He described one exchange in which Nichols responded to a take by asking what he had been doing and telling him to do the opposite. Hoffman also said some scenes left him exhausted and dehydrated, and that the experience made him question whether he wanted to make another movie.
“The Graduate,” which follows Braddock’s affair with the family friend Mrs. Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft, went on to receive major recognition. Nichols won the 1968 Oscar for best director, while Hoffman received his first of seven Academy Award nominations and won a Golden Globe for his performance.
In the memoir, Hoffman describes the film as a “self-portrait” of Nichols, who died in 2014 at 83. Hoffman wrote that the project served as a way for Nichols to channel his self-loathing, referring to the director’s earlier description of the movie as an unconscious creation.
“Look at Me” is scheduled to be released on Nov. 10.
Sources: Page Six.