THESPIAN OF THE WEEK: Dustin Hoffman

Name:  Dustin Lee Hoffman

AKA:  Dustin Hoffman

Date of birth:  August 8, 1937

From:  Los Angeles, CA

Specialty:  Actor

Inside the Actor's Studio with Dustin Hoffman

Hoffman Films You Can't Miss:

Rain Man
Drama

Tootsie
Comedy

Papillon
Drama

The Graduate
Drama

RAIN MAN

GENRE:  Drama
MADE:  1988
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
DIRECTOR:  Barry Levinson
WRITER:  Barry Morrow, Ronald Bass

PLOT:  Charlie Babbitt is landed with the responsibility of taking his long lost autistic brother across the country.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Good Will Hunting, Awakenings, Jerry Maguire

SCORE:

SLEEPERS

GENRE:  Crime/ Drama/ Thriller
MADE:  1996
CAST:  Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric
DIRECTOR:  Barry Levinson
WRITER:  Lorenzo Carcaterra, Barry Levinson

PLOT:  A group of young boys end up in a harsh detention center when a prank goes wrong killing an innocent man.  Their stay at the detention center leads to them being brutalized and abused, and 10 years later they seek their revenge.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Shawshank Redemption, American History X, Liberty Heights, The Count Of Monte Cristo

SCORE:

PAPILLON

GENRE:  Biographical/ Crime/ Drama
MADE:  1973
CAST:  Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
DIRECTOR:  Franklin J. Schaffner
WRITER:  Dalton Trumbo, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Henri Charriere

PLOT:  Papillon and Louis become fast friends during their prison term on a prison island where they plant to escape.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Shawshank Redemption, Capote, Ben-Hur

SCORE:

TOOTSIE

GENRE:  Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
MADE:  1982
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr
DIRECTOR:  Sydney Pollack
WRITER:  Don McGuire, Larry Gelbart and...

PLOT:  Michael Dorsey is an unemployed aspiring actor who is willing to go the distance in order to get a role in a soap opera, he makes his big break as Dorothy Michaels and also makes his big mistake falling in love with a beautiful actress.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Secret Of My Success, Twins, Trading Places

SCORE:

I HEART THE HUCKABEES

GENRE:  Comedy/ Drama
MADE:  2004
CAST:  Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg
DIRECTOR:  David O. Russell
WRITER:  David O. Russell, Jeff Baena

PLOT:  Bernard & Vivian are non-traditional therapist team specializing in existentialism, helping odd but colorful characters with their "life" problems by spying on their clients and assessing their crazy lives.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Royal Tenenbaums, Ghost World, Burn After Reading

SCORE:

THE GRADUATE

GENRE:  Drama/ Romance
MADE:  1967
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross
DIRECTOR:  Mike Nichols
WRITER:  Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, Charles Webb

PLOT:  Ben has just graduated from university and has come back home with not a clue in the world of what he would like to do in life, thus his mind is when he begins an affair with much older Mrs. Robinson, a long time friend of his parents'.  When Ben meets Mrs. Robinson's daughter he falls madly in love and pursues her as she is the only thing he is sure of.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Man In The Moon, Hannah And Her Sisters, Rumor Has It...

SCORE:

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDER

GENRE:  Drama/ Fantasy
MADE:  2006
CAST:  Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman
DIRECTOR:  Tom Tykwer
WRITER:  Andrew Birkin, Bernd Eichinger, Tom Tykwer, Patrick Suskind

PLOT: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille born under the table in the streets of Paris of a fishmonger is born with an exceptional sense of smell, using this quality to become a superior perfume maker he creates the most beautiful smelling perfume, but in order to create the ultimate scent Grenouille must murder.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  V For Vendetta, The Fall, The Princess And The Warrior

SCORE:

SPHERE

GENRE:  Drama/ Horror/ Mystery/ Sci-fi
MADE:  1998
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson
DIRECTOR:  Barry Levinson
WRITER:  Michael Crichton, Kurt Wimmer, Stephen Hauser, Paul Attanasio

PLOT:  When an unknown spacecraft is found at the bottom of the ocean all the professionals arrive, a pyschologist, scientist, mathematician and a biologist.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Event Horizon, Cocoon, Moon, Outbreak, Sunshine

SCORE:

KUNG FU PANDA

GENRE:  Animation/ Action/ Adventure
MADE:  2008
CAST:  Jack Black, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan
DIRECTOR:  Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
WRITER:  Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris

PLOT:  Po, a panda who has been raised making noodle soup but an avid martial arts fan finds that he is chosen from the universe to protect the Valley of Peace from the evil Tai Lung though he has not one warrior skill.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3, A Bugs Life

SCORE:

HOOK

GENRE:  Adventure/ Family/ Fantasy
MADE:  1991
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITER:  J.M. Barrie, James V. Hart, Nick Castle, Malia Scotch Marmo

PLOT:  Peter Pan grew up and forgot about Neverland when he followed Wendy home.  His past will come back to him however, when Hook kidnaps Peter's kids and the only way to get them back is if Peter can remember.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Chronicles Of Narnia:  The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Everafter, The Princess Bride

SCORE:

STRANGER THAN FICTION

GENRE:  Comedy/ Romance/ Drama
MADE:  2006
CAST:  Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman
DIRECTOR:  Marc Forster
WRITER:  Zach Helm

PLOT:  An IRS agent, hated by many, single, boring and running on a schedule... the same schedule every day wakes up one day to find that he can hear a mysterious voice narrating his life.  At first he believes himself to be crazy but finds quickly that he is a character in a book that someone is writing, the bad news?  He, Harold Click dies at the end of the story.  With the knowledge of his upcoming fate his life is turned upside down as he tries to find the author to stop the ending from being written during which... he falls in love with a woman least likely to love him back.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Groundhog Day, The Science Of Sleep, Stay

 

SCORE: