Dustin Hoffman has disclosed in an essay for the New Yorker that his experience making The Graduate nearly six decades ago involved significant personal and physical challenges. The 89-year-old actor described feeling immediately out of place as a Jewish performer cast in the lead role, and recalled extensive sessions in hair and makeup where he perceived efforts to alter his appearance in ways that troubled him.
Hoffman characterized director Mike Nichols’ approach during filming as inconsistent and difficult. After weeks of rehearsals went smoothly, Hoffman noted that Nichols became increasingly temperamental and hard to read on set. The actor recounted specific incidents including being slapped repeatedly by his co-star Katharine Ross during a scene—27 takes in total—that ultimately did not appear in the final cut of the film. This physical ordeal was compounded when Hoffman subsequently punctured an eardrum while filming an underwater sequence in a swimming pool.
The production took a toll on other cast members as well. Hoffman reported that Anne Bancroft, who played Mrs. Robinson, fainted during filming and required oxygen, while Hoffman himself was pushed through multiple repetitions of a running scene until he feared losing consciousness from exhaustion and dehydration.
Despite these hardships, The Graduate became a landmark film that earned seven Oscar nominations and won best director at the 40th Academy Awards ceremony. Hoffman reflected that the experience changed his life professionally, even as it remained personally difficult. In retrospect, he theorized that Nichols, who emigrated from Germany as a young Jewish boy, may have been seeking an alter ego in the lead character and channeling his own internal conflicts onto Hoffman.
Hoffman’s full memoir, Look at Me, co-written with New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy, is scheduled for publication on 10 November.
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