Dustin Hoffman doubted himself for The Graduate, and almost turned it down
Hoffman didn't want the role, thought he was wrong for it, and nearly didn't audition for director Mike Nichols' breakthrough film.
When Mike Nichols asked Dustin Hoffman to screen-test for The Graduate, Hoffman said no. He'd just read Charles Webb's novel and the role made no sense: Benjamin was a tall, blond, all-American Wasp, and Hoffman was Jewish and ethnic-looking.
"Why would you cast a person who looks as ethnic as I do," Hoffman recalls asking, "to play the ultimate Wasp?" Nichols replied simply: "Maybe he's Jewish inside."
Hoffman was already succeeding in theatre, loving his standing ovations and his face on the Arts section of the Times. He looked down on Hollywood and didn't want a seven-year studio contract.
His agent pushed him to audition anyway. By the time Hoffman arrived in L.A., he hadn't slept in two days.
During filming at the Chateau Marmont, he felt so out of place poolside, watching "golden gods among the palm trees", that he never went back. Decades later, Hoffman still maintains that if studios had seen him at the start of their two-year casting search instead of "the bitter end," he would never have got the part.
- Charles Webb
- Novelist
- Mike Nichols
- Director
- Chateau Marmont
- Location
Why it mattersIt shows how self-doubt almost erased one of cinema's most iconic performances, and how a director's belief can override an actor's certainty he is wrong.
AustraliaThe Graduate remains a cornerstone of global film culture, studied and loved by Australians across generations; Hoffman's near-miss reminds us how close we came to a very different classic.
