9 Famous Pieces Of Movie Trivia Everybody Believes (That Are Totally Wrong)
5. Olivier Insulted Hoffman's Acting Skills - Marathon Man
There’s a well-known story from the set of Marathon Man, where Dustin Hoffman showed looking strung out. His co-star - acting legend Laurence Olivier - asked him why he looked so bad, and Hoffman explained his character was supposed to be up for three days without sleep, so he did the same. The sassy Olivier replied with “Why don't you try acting, dear boy?”
Oh, sick burn!
While this exchange did take place, it’s not quite the jab it’s made out to be. In fact, Hoffman himself is the one who told this story to Time magazine, who later twisted it to make it sound like an insult. At the time Hoffman was going through a bad divorce, so he used the excuse of staying up for the movie to party his worries away at Studio 54 for a couple of days.
Olivier realised Hoffman was coming off an almighty bender, so his comments were made in jest, and he followed it with stories of his own wild method acting stories. By all accounts, the two got on very well throughout filming, so reports of any tension have been greatly exaggerated over the years.