Dustin Hoffman recalls difficult experience filming The Graduate

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 4 Nov, 17:52 · Archive

Dustin Hoffman says he had a terrible time filming The Graduate in 1967, feeling constantly anxious under director Mike Nichols.

In an excerpt from his upcoming memoir 'Look at Me', Dustin Hoffman has revealed that filming The Graduate in 1967 was a deeply difficult experience. The 89-year-old actor described feeling in 'a state of constant anxiety' throughout production, often believing he was about to be fired.

Hoffman said director Mike Nichols underwent a dramatic personality shift once shooting began, becoming critical and what Hoffman perceived as angry. He recalled Nichols criticising minute details of his appearance, including his eyebrows and neck, and remembered Nichols asking harshly 'What were you doing?' after one take before instructing him to 'do the opposite of that'. Hoffman said he felt 'trashed from exhaustion and dehydration' after some scenes. Theatre director Ulu Grosbard reportedly told Hoffman after visiting the set that Nichols was 'very much' regretting casting him in the lead role of Benjamin Braddock.

Despite Hoffman's misery during filming, The Graduate became a classic. Nichols won the Oscar for best director in 1968, while Hoffman earned his first of seven Academy Award nominations for the role. He also won a Golden Globe for the part.

How it is being reported

• Dustin Hoffman on affair with married woman: 'her husband walked in with a gun'In his new memoir, 89-year-old Dustin Hoffman looks back on his iconic 60-year career and reveals his very own Graduate moment at the hands of an angry spouseThe Mirror · 4 Nov, 17:23
• Dustin Hoffman recalls ‘terrible’ experience filming movie that earned him first Oscar nominationThe 89-year-old actor's confession, in an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, comes nearly six decades after the iconic film's release.New York Post · 2 Nov, 20:31

In this story: Dustin Hoffman · Mike Nichols · Anne Bancroft · The Graduate

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