10 Actors Who Hated Working Together

Best Picture-winning drama Kramer vs. Kramer also won both Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep Oscars for their superb performances as a divorced couple fighting for custody of their young son (Justin Henry).

But it's been reported numerous times over the years that Hoffman and Streep went to war for real during the shoot.

Streep accused Hoffman, a committed method actor, of insulting her between takes, even taunting her over the recent death of her fiancee, actor John Cazale, to evoke a more emotional performance.

In one take he allegedly threw a wine glass against a wall without informing her first, sending shards of glass into her hair. The common narrative is that Hoffman wasn't too keen on rising star Streep wanting to change aspects of the script to make her character more sympathetic.

In an interview Hoffman conceded that he "hated her guts" during the shoot but "respected her," while Streep, who further alleges she was slapped by Hoffman for real during a take and also groped by him the first time they met, said in 2018 that he was "overstepping."

As much as the final film may be in part a byproduct of that conflict, a great actor really shouldn't need to abuse their co-star.

As Laurence Olivier famously said to Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man a few years prior, "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?"