Dustin Hoffman Recalls Terrible Experience Filming The Graduate
Dustin Hoffman has described filming the 1967 classic The Graduate as a terrible experience
in an essay for The New Yorker, detailing physical injuries on set including a punctured eardrum and being slapped 27 times by co-star Katharine Ross. The actor reflects on the production in his forthcoming memoir, Look at Me, co-written with journalist Ariel Levy and scheduled for publication on November 10.
The 89-year-old actor writes that making the movie that launched his career exacerbated all his initial insecurities. Hoffman recalled feeling unworthy of playing Benjamin Braddock, an affluent, all-American Wasp and track star, noting that his own ethnic appearance made him feel entirely wrong for the lead role. Long before landing the part, when director Mike Nichols asked him on the phone, So who is right for it?
Hoffman pointed to a sketch of a handsome, blond, athletic fellow on the cover of a Time magazine on his coffee table representing Americans Twenty-five and Under.
When Nichols asked if he thought he was wrong because he was Jewish, Hoffman replied, Well, because Benjamin’s so not Jewish.
After a pause, Nichols responded, Maybe he’s Jewish inside.
Convinced by his agent to screen-test despite his reservations, Hoffman had even told his castmates in the Off-Broadway play Eh? that they would not need to replace him, and when he walked to his neighbor Mel Brooks on Eleventh Street to share that he was being flown out to audition for a Mike Nichols movie, Brooks called down from his window, Good luck!
while suppressing a laugh. Before the production, Hollywood had never been his endgame, and he had looked down on American movies compared with European breakthrough cinema by greats like Truffaut, Buñuel, Antonioni, and Godard, which Hollywood had yet to see the light on, wanting instead only to go home to ethnic New York where he belonged.
Mike Nichols and the Strains of Production
The Guardian reported that Hoffman found director Mike Nichols to be an entirely different person during principal photography compared to rehearsals, describing Nichols as frequently sour
and a shocking, destabilizing
change from his casual, seductive demeanor during rehearsals. While Nichols was irritable with everyone on set, Hoffman noted that a certain sadism seemed to creep in toward him, leaving the actor convinced he was about to be fired.
Variety noted that Hoffman worried Nichols realized he had miscast the lead. The tension boiled over during a scene where Benjamin runs into Elaine Robinson’s room soaking wet from the rain to reveal his affair with her mother. Nichols repeatedly instructed Ross to hit Hoffman harder, despite her concerns about causing injury. Hoffman asked her not to hit his ear, but she accidentally did so during the 27 takes, leaving him dizzy. The slap sequence was ultimately cut from the final film.
An on-Set Injury and Co-Star Collapses
The physical toll continued the following day during an underwater sequence in a swimming pool. Hoffman noticed blood trickling from his ear after surfacing from a scuba suit take, later discovering he had punctured his eardrum from the combination of the previous day’s slaps and underwater pressure.
The Guardian added that co-star Anne Bancroft, who played Mrs. Robinson, fainted while filming in extreme heat and required oxygen resuscitation. Hoffman himself recalled lying down in the grass in front of a church because he thought he was going to lose consciousness.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Memoir and Film
When is Dustin Hoffman’s memoir Look at Me publishing?
The memoir, co-written with journalist Ariel Levy, is scheduled for publication on November 10.
Which awards did The Graduate win upon release?
Released on December 22, 1967, the film received seven Academy Award nominations, with Mike Nichols winning Best Director. Hoffman went on to win two Best Actor Oscars later in his career for Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man.
How did Hoffman originally land the role of Benjamin Braddock?
Despite initially feeling he was completely wrong for the part of an all-American Wasp and resisting his agent’s advice to audition, Hoffman ultimately screen-tested and secured the breakthrough role.
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