{"id":672384,"date":"2026-11-02T05:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T05:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672384\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T05:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T05:38:12","slug":"dustin-hoffman-says-filming-the-graduate-was-a-terrible-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672384\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Hoffman Says Filming ‘The Graduate’ Was a Terrible Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDustin Hoffman<\/a>, who shot to fame after starring as Ben Braddock in Mike Nichols\u2019 classic film \u201cThe Graduate<\/a>,\u201d has opened up about his experience shooting the 1967 comedy-drama in a recent essay for The New Yorker<\/a>, which he described as having been a \u201cterrible experience\u201d despite the fact that the movie changed his life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI felt immediately uncomfortable, unworthy. Here I was, playing a starring role in a movie by Mike Nichols, who was the director of the moment, but I felt like I had no right to be there,\u201d writes Hoffman early in the piece of his time on set. \u201cIt was a terrible experience making the movie that changed my life.\u201d Much of his anxiety stemmed from worrying that Nichols \u201cwas angry at me, either because I was doing something wrong or because he had realized what everybody else already knew, that he had miscast the lead in his film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHoffman writes that the film \u201cexacerbated all my insecurities from the start.\u201d \u201cWhen my agent said that Mike was interested in me, I didn\u2019t even want to try out for the part. I had read the Charles Webb novel that Mike was adapting, and it was obvious that I was all wrong for Benjamin. A track star and straight-A student, the head of the debate team\u2014this was an affluent, all-American kid, whose surname was \u2018Braddock.\u2019 Why would you cast a person who looks as ethnic as I do to play the ultimate Wasp? It made absolutely no sense.\u201d He continued, explaining that his agent convinced him to screen-test for the role, which he ultimately got.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, beyond Hoffman\u2019s worries about his ability to play Ben, he also writes that Nichols was \u201cfrequently sour\u201d on set, a \u201cshocking, destabilizing\u201d change from his personality during rehearsals. \u201cI often felt that I was about to be fired. When we were shooting some of the film\u2019s most famous sequences, I remember thinking, I have no fucking idea what I\u2019m doing,\u201d said Hoffman.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also notes that while the director was \u201cirritable with everyone,\u201d there was a \u201ccertain sadism\u201d that \u201cseemed to creep in\u201d only with him. <\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cThere was a scene in which Katharine Ross had to slap me, and he made us do twenty-seven takes. The scene has Benjamin run into Elaine\u2019s room, soaking wet from the rain, to tell her that he\u2019s had an affair with an older woman; within seconds, Elaine realizes the woman is her mother. Mike just kept telling Katharine to hit me, to hit me harder. Katharine worried she would hurt me, and I told her, \u2018I\u2019m O.K. Just don\u2019t hit my ear.\u2019 Unfortunately, she missed a few times. I was dizzy by the end of that day, and Mike didn\u2019t even use the slap in the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe following day, Hoffman shot an underwater scene that required him to stay submerged in a scuba suit. \u201cWhen I came up for air after a few takes, there was blood trickling out of my ear. Between all the slapping during the previous day and all the water pressure at the bottom of the pool, I\u2019d punctured an eardrum,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Graduate\u201d first hit theaters on Dec. 22, 1967. Per its official description, the film followed a disillusioned college graduate (Hoffman) who finds himself torn between his older lover (Anne Bancroft) and her daughter (Ross). It was nominated for seven Oscars and was named the best picture winner at the 40th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dustin Hoffman, who shot to fame after starring as Ben Braddock in Mike Nichols\u2019 classic film \u201cThe Graduate,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26152,93,61,60,270,26151],"class_list":["post-672384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-dustin-hoffman","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-the-graduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}