Dustin Hoffman

Hoffman: I got John into the project. I said there's a few actors that can play my part, but I don't know of a lot of actors that can play his part, in terms of what he represents to the public.

CrankyCritic: We heard you were you really passionate about doing Mad City.
Hoffman: Not really [laughter]. Either you're an actor who has to make a living by accepting anything that's out there, which is what we tried to satirize in Tootsie ["apart from a tomato I'll take it"], or if you're a star or a second tier star you have a choice of roles. Then it's always different what makes you take a part. Is it filming in a city where my kids are going to school? Is it a director I want to work with; all those considerations. There was enough of that in this project. It was a great project for Costa-Gravas; Travolta was available; We were shooting in LA and my kids are there and I had not done that part and it was about a subject I felt was interesting.

CrankyCritic: It's not a kind of role we've seen you in before.
Hoffman: I've always kind of envied other actors that have a kind of signature. I don't think I have one.

CrankyCritic: That may be your signature. Because you can't be typecast.
Hoffman: I would be if I could [laughs]. I wish I could. I wish I had the kind of personality that was so magnetic, like Jimmy Stewart. I don't think that I could get away with it. I don't want to be bored with myself, and I find it very easy to be bored with my work. I love the idea of putting myself in a part where you don't step aside, where you say to yourself "how would I be in this situation?" So that you're not holier than thou. You're not morally above the character you're portraying.

CrankyCritic: You have a reputation for being a perfectionist.
Hoffman: Everyone I've ever worked with is as much a perfectionist as I. I've never understood that accusation. It's so silly. You're not trying not to do your best, but you know it can be done better.

CrankyCritic: Has anything come close?
Hoffman: Well I like certain things. I never look at it but you see it on the TV and you're shocked to see yourself and you watch a little bit and I inevitably turn it off because it's frustrating. You inevitably want to go back and play with it or do it better.

CrankyCritic: Was it evident to you when you were talking to TV network people, when you were doing your research, how much like death it is for someone like Max to go back to local after working the network. At what point was it evident how much alike Sam and Max really are?
Hoffman: Despite the economic differences?

CrankyCritic: In the sense that they have both lost what was their "reason to be"?
Hoffman: I think Costa was aware of that when we were shooting and he tried to show that. We did All the Presidents Men in 1976 and the threat to journalism was television. Here we are 20 years later and the threat to television is tabloids, which means it's all getting worse. I love when John Travolta as Sam says "I'm going to be on Larry King!" He's caught up in it already. It's like you turn on the TV and you see those weird  talk shows, and you see people talking about their daughter or their son who's murdered or died or committed suicide or drug overdose or a disease or AIDS or some God awful thing. It feels like there's a distance because they're reflecting as if it happened a week ago. You wonder what are they doing talking to reporters? What is so seductive about answering the questions? It's frightening.