Dustin Disses Directors
Alice, of course, objects to my title: she says diss "isn't a proper English verb." Oh dear - comes of having been an English teacher a very long time ago, you know. I say, if they can use it on TV, it's OK by me. Anyway, I'm not giving up the alliteration.
We were in Screen 3 of our favourite art-house cinema, watching the ads and trailers before seeing Room 237 (which was entertaining, but not worth a whole entry here) when there appeared a Red Carpet News interview with Dustin Hoffman. An actor known in his youth for the role of the naive student in The Graduate, he has made his directorial debut at the age of 75.His new film, Quartet, is about a bunch of elderly opera singers in a retirement home, starring venerable veterans like Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon - shades of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, methinks.
But that's beside the point. In the interview, he had the nerve to utter the following words: The truth is, the easiest thing in the world is to be a film director, if you have first-rate crew (whose various functions he then listed). I was fortunate to get really first-rate people. And, and if you do, your, your ten-year old kid could direct.
[Underlining by a still horrified typist.]
At this, there arose a spontaneous collective gasp-groan-laugh of disbelief and derision from those of us watching. (Alice was one of the loudest.) We were aficionados, after all. What an insult to the many great directors in the history of cinema! I won't try to name them here - you know who you think they are.
Hard to believe he actually said it in public, isn't it? But just see this video of the offending interview.
