Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LUAINE LEE KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Any actor I've ever known who's in a play has said, `I'm opening on stage in this play, but don't come see me the first month. It'll take me that long to get into the part.' You can't do that with film. You're stuck with the mediocrity you put out there the first week,'' says the man who has earned two Oscars and six nominations.
There's a difference between having a ``screen persona'' and playing a character, says Hoffman, who has exercised the latter ever since he played the nebbish alum in ``The Graduate.''
To find yourself confronting this new character without any preparation is difficult ``if you're not coming off a persona like certain actors do,'' says Hoffman, 57.
``That's not to say that Bogart didn't do `The African Queen' or `The Caine Mutiny Court Martial,' but many times he did a Bogart persona. And he didn't have to rehearse that.''
But when you're playing a character like the autistic savant in ``Rain Man'' or the cross-dressing actor in ``Tootsie,'' it's hard to decide how you want to do it. Even Hoffman blows it. He tells about his first day on ``Outbreak,'' a film directed by Wolfgang Petersen (``In the Line of Fire'').
``I was nervous, not knowing whether I should do a dialect, not knowing how good an actor this character is when he has to make believe he's someone he's not.''
After 20 takes, Petersen took Hoffman aside and said, ``I just want you to know that the first day of working with Clint Eastwood in `In the Line of Fire,' he could not get his first two or three lines out.''
They did over 40 takes, Petersen said. Finally Eastwood asked them to remove the dialogue. ``The reason I bring it up,'' says Hoffman, ``is that Eastwood is certainly one who has persona and has done it before. Yet even in his case, it doesn't stop being scary.''
No matter how fearful he is, Hoffman keeps trying. He is meticulous the way he approaches a role, ruminating, studying and digesting every nuance. The distance between a hit and a miss is infinitesimal, he says, and one shouldn't relent.
``I keep thinking of Greg Louganis where the greatest diver of all time did the most frightening thing you can do as a diver, hit your head on the edge of the board. That doesn't mean it's not worth it. You get up and dive again.''
Louis Gossett Jr. can't seem to quit working. On March 19 he's starring on Showtime cable in ``Zooman,'' and the following night he'll show up on NBC as the San Francisco private eye in ``Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder.''
Even so, Gossett isn't thrilled. ``If I were white I'd be as rich as Harrison Ford,'' says the winner of both the Emmy and the Oscar.
``I'm still not a major motion picture actor. As far as our industry is concerned, I'm a cable actor and don't get [feature] work at all.''
He's not knocking the tube, though. ``I never had that problem with television. My ratings today are bigger than Bill Cosby's. Thank you, television. Thank you, cable.''
He admits it bothers him. ``It's something for me to overcome for the next person. Thank God it doesn't happen to Denzel Washington.''
Julie Carmen and James Tolkan have signed to star in the new PC CD-ROM game based on the movie ``Top Gun.'' Tolkan played Hondo in the original movie ... Filming has wrapped on Michael Crichton's ``Congo,'' which was actually shot in Costa Rica and Uganda.
If you've longed to be part of the backstage hubbub of the Grammys, now you can courtesy of Mindscape and their new CD-ROM for Mac and Windows. The collection features highlights of performances and interviews by the artists who've made the music for the past 35 years. Cost is $60.
Did'ja know that Laurence Olivier - with 10 - was the actor with the most Academy Award nominations and that the only silent film to win best picture was 1927's ``Wings''? ``Gone With the Wind'' was the first color movie to win, and Walt Disney copped the most honors with 32 awards.
Fans of filmdom's best are being treated to an orgy of ecstasy this month as Turner Classic Movies is offering 31 days of Oscar-winning movies, 24 hours a day.
Sunday nights are saved for best picture, Monday nights are devoted to winners from production to art direction. Tuesdays will honor directing, cinematography, editing; Wednesdays, best supporting players; Thursdays, best actors; Fridays, best actress and Saturdays will feature movies that competed with each other in the same categories.
by CNB