14 DAY TRIAL // For today’s Viral of the Day, we’re going to skip the usual cute videos of kittens, puppies, and toddlers and focus instead on a very talented actor and a very amazing man: Dustin Hoffman.
The video above is from the AFI archives and has Hoffman talk about his hit movie “Tootsie,” which came out in 1982 and told the story of a difficult actor disguising himself as a woman to land a role in a soap opera.
Though billed a comedy, Hoffman says “Tootsie” was never that for him.
He explains that, after the makeup test (which had to convince the movie studio to finance the project), he found himself thinking that he imagined himself a prettier woman. He was actually surprised that he looked so average.
When the makeup stylist told him that “this is as good as it gets,” he realized that his not making a prettier woman could mean the “Tootsie” story would probably never see the light of day.
Then it dawned on him: he had most definitely missed out on the experience of meeting extraordinary, very interesting women because he had deemed them beneath a certain standard as regards looks.
Saying this, Hoffman tears up. His was a lesson well learned.