Behind the success of The Graduate was a filming experience Dustin Hoffman now remembers as anything but smooth. The actor has opened up about a particularly brutal scene that took 27 takes to complete, with Katharine Ross repeatedly slapping him as director Mike Nichols pushed for another attempt.
Hoffman detailed the experience in an essay for The New Yorker, drawn from his forthcoming autobiography, Look at Me. According to the star, the director of the movie repeatedly urged co-star Ross to hit him harder. Shockingly, the scene was cut from the 1967 film, and the blows contributed to an injury he discovered the following day.
“There 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’s room, soaking wet from the rain, to tell her that he’s 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,” Hoffman recalled.
The actor also noted how the entire scenario made Ross uncomfortable and how she got worried that she would hurt him. Although Hoffman said that he was okay, he started feeling dizzy when they concluded that day’s filming.
He said, “Katharine worried she would hurt me, and I told her, ‘I’m O.K. Just don’t hit my ear.’ Unfortunately, she missed a few times. I was dizzy by the end of that day, and Mike didn’t even use the slap in the film.”
The next day, Hoffman had to stay underwater in a scuba suit for another sequence. He said blood was coming from his ear when he surfaced, and attributed a punctured eardrum to the slaps and water pressure.
The injury was part of a wider struggle on set. Hoffman said he doubted he could play Benjamin, whom he viewed as an affluent, athletic, traditionally Anglo-American young man unlike himself. He feared Nichols believed he had made a mistake casting him.
Hoffman described Nichols as supportive during rehearsals but frequently sour once filming began. He often felt close to being fired and struggled to understand what the director wanted. He also recalled nearly collapsing while repeatedly running in intense California heat during the sequence leading to Benjamin’s attempt to stop Elaine’s wedding.
Despite the experience, The Graduate became the breakthrough that made Hoffman a star. His autobiography, Look at Me, is scheduled for publication on November 10. He revisited it years later.
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