Dustin Hoffman wore a 34B in “Tootsie.”
How do I know such an intimate detail? Even though we share a surname, I had to give his reps every contact number I had short of my bra size to get him on the phone. When we finally connected, I told him that — and he responded with the brassiere measurements of one of his most beloved characters. How can you not love this guy?
From “The Graduate” to “Midnight Cowboy,” the divorced dad of “Kramer vs. Kramer” to Dorothy Michaels, his better half in “Tootsie,” Hoffman — once described as “short, twitchy, hamsterish” — paved the way for a new generation of leading men, as Robert De Niro said of him at last month’s Kennedy Center honors.
Now, at 75, Hoffman’s directing: “Quartet,” opening Friday, stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay and other great Brits in a lovely tale about retired musicians. Here’s what Hoffman had to say about acting, aging, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What a brilliant debut! What took you so long?
I literally started out wanting to direct. I took an acting course in college because I needed the credits, and someone said, “Take acting — no one flunks acting; it’s like gym!” I got involved with students that were doing scenes. I’d look at the Equity bulletin board and they needed a community theater director in Fargo, ND, and I flew there. I [directed] “The Time of Your Life” and “Two for the Seesaw” and loved it! Then this freak accident called “The Graduate” came along, and suddenly I wasn’t only a working actor but a star — meaning I got a lot of scripts. A year passed, and it was “Midnight Cowboy.” I started to direct something called “Straight Time” . . . [but then] I fired myself. It’s still one of the best things I think I ever acted in.
Who’s the best director you ever worked with?
Mike Nichols cast me in “The Graduate.” He came from the theater and was such a star director, he got anything he wanted, namely four weeks’ rehearsal. He was the first perfectionist I ever worked with — he didn’t leave until he felt we did our best work. The second was John Schlesinger, though he worked differently. I’d put Barry Levinson up there because we improvised a lot in “Rain Man.”
Speaking of “Rain Man,” ever hear from Tom Cruise?
Not recently, but he’s one of the great people to work with. He’d always knock on my [trailer] door, “Are you busy? Can we go over this scene?” He lives and breathes his work. I don’t know anything about his private life, but I’ve always considered him a friend. He’s not the only one who’s gone through publicity hell. Schwarzenegger once said to me [cue “Terminator” accent], “I won’t go on the red carpet without a couple of shots of tequila.”
The “Quartet” cast says you told them, “No acting, no acting!”
It’s true! I knew I could only do this if we had real retired singers and musicians. Then I told the principals — Maggie, Tom, Michael Gambon — “This is only going to work if we give this a cinema vérité feeling the surrounding people are going to give it, because they’re the real thing. We’re all in our 70s, we don’t get the parts we used to get, we get physical ailments. Yet we have one thing in common: this love for what we do, and the urge to keep doing it!”
Was it a plus working with Brits? Less Botox, perhaps?
They’re different there. There’s a dignity and a beauty to aging, and it’s so sad that society runs from it, or certain people do. My wife [Lisa Gottsegen] — I’ve known her for 35 years, and she becomes more beautiful every day.
Any performance you prize the most?
I don’t have a favorite. There are some where I felt I came close to nailing what I wanted to do . . . but so many times I see something I wish I had done better. I do feel Nichols got the best out of me in “The Graduate,” that Schlesinger found something in “Midnight Cowboy.” “Kramer vs. Kramer” was extraordinary because it was the first time I was playing someone who was going through what I was going through — divorce [from first wife Anne Byrne]. It’s the first time I realized we’re not creators, we’re re-creators. For “Rain Man,” I did research for over 2 ½ years. We screened it with [autism] specialists and asked, “Tell us what’s wrong, we’ll change it.” They said we got it. That was the best reward.
So let’s get this straight: Are we related, and what about Philip Seymour Hoffman?
Not that I know of, but all of us should go on ancestry. com. I did call Phil up when I saw his Truman Capote and invited him to the house for dinner with my family. He’s one of our great actors.
Will we ever get you back on Broadway?
I don’t get stuff offered that much. But if you have any ideas, please send them to me before you send them to Philip Seymour Hoffman.