Dustin Hoffman Recounts Broken Eardrum and 27 Slaps During 'The Graduate' Filming

Dustin Hoffman described the production of the 1967 film The Graduate as a terrible experience in a recent essay for The New Yorker. The actor, who played the lead role of Ben Braddock, said the process was marked by anxiety and physical pain, despite the movie eventually defining his career.

Hoffman detailed a specific sequence where director Mike Nichols ordered actress Katharine Ross to slap him repeatedly. He stated that they performed twenty-seven takes of the scene. In the moment, the character Benjamin enters Elaine's room soaked from the rain to reveal he has had an affair with her mother. Nichols instructed Ross to hit him harder each time, and she worried about injuring him. Hoffman told her he was okay as long as he did not hit his ear, but he said she missed that mark on several occasions.

The physical toll of the slapping became apparent the following day during the filming of an underwater sequence. Hoffman required a scuba suit to stay submerged for several takes. When he surfaced for air, blood was trickling from his ear. He attributed the injury to the combination of the previous day's impacts and the water pressure at the bottom of the pool, which resulted in a punctured eardrum. Hoffman noted that Nichols did not use the slap in the final cut of the film.

The actor wrote that he felt uncomfortable and unworthy from the start of the production. He expressed concern that Nichols was angry with him or had realized he had miscast the lead. Hoffman recalled that he did not initially want to try out for the part because he felt he was the wrong type for the character, who was a track star and debate team captain. He questioned why a person who looked as ethnic as he did was chosen to play such a stereotypical affluent American role. His agent convinced him to screen test, and he won the part.

Hoffman characterized Nichols as frequently sour on set, a sharp change from his demeanor during rehearsals. The director was irritable with the cast, but Hoffman felt a certain sadism crept in specifically toward him. He often felt he was about to be fired and admitted to having no idea what he was doing while shooting famous sequences.

The Graduate opened in theaters on December 22, 1967. The film follows a disillusioned college graduate who is torn between an older lover and her daughter. Anne Bancroft and Ross played those roles alongside Hoffman. The movie received seven Academy Award nominations and won the award for best picture at the 40th ceremony.

Hoffman's account offers a behind-the-scenes look at the physical demands placed on actors during that era of filmmaking. The essay provides context for the intensity of the production that created a cultural icon.