Dustin Hoffman is still smarting from the whipping his HBO show, “Luck,” took after only one season — and he’s blaming a conspiracy between PETA and TMZ for the show’s cancellation.
The series, Hoffman’s first for TV, was halted in the middle of production after three horses reportedly died during filming,
The actor said in an interview over the weekend that he was “beyond disappointed” and “shocked” at the decision to stop filming, which cost HBO as much as $20 million, according to reports.
“My son and I had just finished a scene, we went to have lunch, and we got a phone call during lunch that HBO canceled us,” he told Fox News.
“I thought it meant we were not going for a third season. They said, ‘No, now.’
“We didn’t even go back to work that day.”
Hoffman, who played an organized crime boss trying to take over a California race track in the period just before casino gambling was to be permitted at tracks, believes “it was a collaboration between PETA and TMZ.
“It’s interesting, sites like TMZ, they’re mistaken for news.
“We did ‘All the President’s Men’ and you had to have two sources and they don’t need any sources, they’re gossip, but the general public believes what they say.”
PETA was “looking to get contributions,” he contends. “Somebody ought to do a movie about them.”
PETA hit back at Hoffman, saying: “PETA wrote to him on two separate occasions urging him to use his position to help improve welfare conditions for the horses on the set of ‘Luck’ after we were contacted by a dozen whistleblowers who were part of his production.
“Had he taken PETA’s warnings seriously instead of ignoring them, the life of the third horse could have been spared, the show might still be on the air, and his crew might still have their jobs.”