MovieChat Forums > Dustin Hoffman Discussion > Disappeared by MeToo

Disappeared by MeToo


Dustin Hoffman is around 85 now, and perhaps will not return to the public eye. Our older stars vary after 80. Clint Eastwood and Michael Caine still work, and they've reached(Caine, almost) or passed (Eastwood) 90. There were some photos of Sean Connery in public in his late 80s, before he died AT 90. And Gene Hackman is going strong after 90 with occasional photos of him in fit, thin retirement in New Mexico. Alas ,we may have seen the last of Jack Nicholson in public. He's mid-80s like Hoffman, but he's overweight, rumored to be ill, and simply not seen much (some Lakers games ....but how recently?)

So Dustin Hoffman is in good company and can choose to be seen and photographed , or not.

He seems to have chosen "or not."

And the reason seems to be, among all of the above-mentioned New Hollywood superstars...he was "disappeared by MeToo." Various women accused him. And as a last straw, he was trying to field questions at a retrospective of one of his films, and HBO gadfly John Olivier evidently pushed him very hard on the accusations.

So that was the end for poor "Dusty." He couldn't come out to bask in the glory of his long movie career. He couldn't do Q and As about past acheivements. Did he manage to get his AFI Life Acheivement award before this all came down? I can't remember.

Its going to be rough on Hoffman's legacy. Hackman, Eastwood, Caine have had no such besmirchment. Hoffman's "just behind him peers" -- Pacino and DeNiro -- look to retire in good public legacy. That said, Connery took some hits for his public comments about it being OK to slap women, and Nicholson is dogged by some rumors about mistreatment of women, but he's still rather invincible.

Its all too bad for Dustin Hoffman. Too bad "he had to go out that way." On the other hand, William Goldman in his book "Adverntures in the Screen Trade" went after Hoffman in a big way for what Goldman SAID was tempermental and egotistic behavior (against Laurence Olivier and Roy Scheider) on the set of Marathon Man, and there are a few more stories of arrogance out there.

I recall reading a Hoffman quote in his prime that rather summed up his problems. Paraphrased, Hoffman said:

"People have misconceptions of the personas of movie stars. For instance, Warren Beatty is known for getting lots of women. Well, I get lots of women, too." Ha. A backhanded self-compliment AND Hoffman was married at the time(still is, she puts up with him, I guess.) I would expect that's another reason Hoffman can't believe what happened to him. "He got lots of women," consensually. It was just those alleged ones he didn't.

Its all too bad. We should have maybe gotten to see more of Hoffman in his old age, looking back over a fine career. Instead, we shall always have the movies: The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Marathon Man(yes), All the President's Men, Kramer vs Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man....

It'll have to be enough.


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I haven't heard any accusations, but then again neither do I give any Fs about them either.

It's kind of like baseball records in the steroid era - no one cares about them. Accusations in the me-too era? Who cares? Neither carry much credibility.

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Fair enough. But what was odd with Hoffman is that once these accusations surfaced, its like he dropped out of sight. I think he stopped taking or getting movie roles(though I think I saw one or two on imdb.)

I think "the last straw" for Hoffman was trying to field questions at a Q and A and having John Olivier hammer him on the accusations.

I would suppose that Hoffman figures "I'm rich, I'm old, I had my career, who needs this?" and dropped out. In his 80's, he can do that.

As for MeToo accusations, whether true or not, they sure knocked a few male celebrities and politicians out of the box fast: Matt Lauer, Al Franken, Bill O'Reilly, the head of CBS. And the Great White Whale, Harvey Weinstein.

Most movie stars seem to brush MeToo off. Hollywood remains a bad place to make the MeToo case , given how many women are KNOWN to trade sexual favors for roles. Its not like all men are predators and all women are victims, there is a serious gray area.

But Hoffman seems to have quit over it.

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You could be right - I haven't followed the accusations so I don't know if there's any validity to them or not. If they are true and if they're serious and not a "wow, you look great in that skirt" type of "sexual assault", then he should be cancelled.

I can only say what I would do if I found myself in his situation. If I was younger man and had a viable career (and I was innocent), I would tell everyone to F off and apologize for nothing. If I was Hoffman's age, I might do the same as he seems to be doing - say screw it, disappear, and enjoy the balance of my life to the fullest.

Realize of course that that's what *I* would do because I would never sexually assault anyone, and from I sit right now, know the accusations would be pure unadulterated bullshit.

Hoffman? I don't have a clue. He could be a perv for all I know, but my original point is that in the era of "me-too", accusations carry little weight with me.

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Hoffman? I don't have a clue. He could be a perv for all I know, but my original point is that in the era of "me-too", accusations carry little weight with me.

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And I take that point. Of recent vintage in politics, it seems that "me too" accusations surface almost immediately against any man who runs for a particular office or takes a particular position. And ...these guys are NOT quitting now.

Moreover, some organization that professed to represent women -- "Time's Up" -- was found to be using their funds to DEFEND certain powerful men.

Lots of nuance.

A young actor has more at stake. Hoffman is rich, old and his work will last. I think he just walked away.

...but in his case, maybe he did something...and there was ONE photo published of him in public backstage at a play, jokingly putting his hands up to a woman's breasts...

...stars ALSO "get to do that." Or so they thought ...

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Funny, none of those movies ever impressed me. I liked Little Big Man, but really ... a short dumpy Jewish guy as the one to tell the story of the Native Americans. I think of him as Ratso Rizzo because he looks like a rat-human.

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bit of a shitty end to a genuine movie icon. being haulled across the coals by that guy ambushing him on stage with accusations of metoo in the thick of metoo damn

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I used to like John Oliver, but that was low of him. No doubt he'll feel vindicated and that he's some sort of Ronan Farrow style hero for MeToo/feminism, but it was, like you say, an ambush, during a tribute for Wag the Dog (ironically, one of Hoffman's lesser films, at least IMHO). Yes, men who abuse women should be held accountable, but I have very little time for bad-faith actors, as Oliver was in this instance, using the pretext of a anniversary celebration of a film, to try to be some bigshot 'Gotcha' journalist, and I suspect it will have soured the event for many of the people present, the audience and various celebrity guests alike.

Maybe some militant feminists will disagree, but I honestly thought it was pretty low. If you're going to go after historical sex offenders, and I'm not saying you shouldn't, at least have the integrity to be honest rather than hide behind a supposedly celebratory event. You might not get an opportunity to face-off with your 'target', but at least people will trust you and treat you in good faith going forward, which might, in turn, reap better results.

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and Going Straight

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and Going Straight

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Yes, that was another good one.

He made other good ones I didn't list above, to be sure.

One time, he even played the son of Sean Connery ("Family Business.") That's acting.

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LOL... that was an oddball film.

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Update:

I checked imdb and it looks like Hoffman has appeared in some films since 2017 when this all hit.

I recall the "hit" being in 2017 because he had a movie out with Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller called The Meyerowitz Stories and Hoffman had some Oscar buzz for it and...the whole campaign was disappeared.

Since then:

Into the Labyrinth 2019
As They Made Us 2022

..I'm not sure what kind of release they got.

Upcoming:

Sam & Kate (co-starring Jake Hoffman -- a son?)

So I guess he hasn't entirely disappeared, but these aren't widely seen or distributed films. At 85 Hoffman doesn't really have to work anymore, but perhaps his rehabilitation will be to do a few more films while he can, at reduced rates and fame...

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He's 85 years old. How much work would he be getting.

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True...perhaps I would refine that to say that he simply stopped "making the rounds" of events where our older, distinguished stars get to be honored in their old age.

I looked it up, and John Oliver went at Hoffman -- without Hoffman leaving the stage -- for quite some time at a retrospective Q and A on "Wag the Dog." So...no more of those. No more Oscar appearances, either (but a LOT of stars don't go there anymore if not nominated.)

True: Stars working past 80 are usually "novelty act" performers. Even with Clint and Caine doing it...we notice that they are not the young men, or even middle-aged men, we came to admire.

Cary Grant's record stands. Retired at 62 and refused to ever come back for any role.

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Good shout on Michael Caine. He's a few years older than Hoffman. Also, Morgan Freeman still gets regular work.

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As much as Robert Redford, Donald Sutherland, and the even older Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall have been getting for the last five years or so, I suspect.

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