Updated November 10, 2026, 11:05 a.m. ET
In many ways, “Look at Me” is exactly the memoir you’d expect.
Throughout Dustin Hoffman’s approximately 300-page book (available now), the two-time Oscar winner dutifully recounts what it was like to film classic films such as “Tootsie” and “All the President’s Men,” with a handful of lurid anecdotes sprinkled throughout. (Yes, he got high with Paul McCartney, and yes, Maggie Smith was as intimidating as advertised.)
But the Hollywood legend also gets intensely personal, as she reflects on the aging and impending death of her first son, Jake, as well as her complex relationship with “The Graduate” director Mike Nichols. Hoffman, 89, also talks about the sexual misconduct allegations made against him in 2017 and the effect they had on that mental well-being.
Here’s more of what we learned from reading Hoffman’s “Look at Me,” co-written with journalist Ariel Levy:
Robert Duvall once jumped in the shower with his friend Dustin Hoffman
Hoffman remembers growing up in New York in the 1950s and ’60s, living with Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall as struggling actors. Duvall was a particularly close friend.
“I was with him the day JFK was shot,” Hoffman writes. “I remember walking around New York in a trance, everyone was completely shaken, really in a state of intense mourning. People were all talking to each other and it really was like New York was a family. ‘That’s a terrible thing to say,’ Duvall murmured, ‘but it’s a perfect day to pick up girls.'”
Hoffman goes on to say that Duvall “loved girls as much as I did.”
On one occasion, “when I had a classy girl at the apartment and we were showering together in the morning, Duvall pulled back the shower curtain, naked, and came in with us,” Hoffman writes. “He reached out to my girlfriend and said, ‘Nice to meet you, my name is Bob Duvall.'”
Hoffman ‘shocked’ Meryl Streep during this ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ scene
Hoffman calls Streep “one of the great actresses of her generation”, but writes that they sometimes clashed over their different working styles. While Hoffman liked to be spontaneous and try things on the fly, Streep came to the set of “Kramer vs. Kramer” fiercely prepared with deliberate choices in mind.
In a scene from the Oscar-winning divorce drama, Joanna (Streep) and Ted (Hoffman) meet at a restaurant to discuss custody of their young son.
“During filming, I did something that seemed completely natural to me: I got up to storm out and knocked a drink off the table without warning,” Hoffman writes. “It smashed against the wall. Meryl was shocked. The reaction you see in the film is genuine: she kind of jumps in her seat. It’s perfect. But she didn’t have a chance to think about it in advance, and I don’t think Meryl liked it. To be honest, I’m not sure I would have liked it myself.”
In another scene, Hoffman recalls interrupting Streep during a long breakup speech, to show how self-centered her character was.
“I don’t think Meryl liked it either,” he said. “She probably thought I was trying to steal her scene, which was absurd. … It’s counterproductive to worry about being overshadowed.”
Steven Spielberg wasn’t ‘enthusiastic’ about the gay version of ‘Hook’
In a later chapter, Hoffman writes fondly of his friendship with Robin Williams, his co-star in Steven Spielberg’s adult Peter Pan adventure, “Hook.” Hoffman played the evil-eyed Captain Hook, opposite Bob Hoskins’ dutiful Mr. Smee.
“My Hook was pompous and British,” writes Hoffman. “Bob Hoskins and I decided that he should also be gay. We thought that Hoskins’ character, Mr. Smee, and Hook were obviously in a long-term relationship; there was just no other way to play it. We told Spielberg our idea, and he wasn’t particularly keen, but we went with it anyway. I love our scenes together. They’re a very domestic couple, Hook and Smee, especially for pirates.
Why Hoffman Almost Quit His Oscar-Winning Film ‘Rain Man’
After “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Hoffman won his second best actor Oscar for playing autistic Raymond Babbitt in 1988’s “Rain Man” alongside Tom Cruise. But during production, Hoffman often felt insecure about his performance, until he gradually began to gain confidence while improvising with Cruise.
“I almost quit Rain Man because I couldn’t find the character,” Hoffman writes. “I felt ridiculous, totally wrong. I remember watching the dailies with Barry Levinson, the director, and thinking, ‘This is horrible, I have to get through this.’ Barry was very calm, very reassuring. “Give it a few weeks,” he told me. “If you still can’t get it, then stop. Just see if you can find a moment that feels authentic to you.
Hoffman reveals where Steve McQueen allegedly hid his cocaine
While filming “Papillon” in 1973, Hoffman recalls that his partner Steve McQueen was one of the highest paid actors of the time and so made extravagant demands.
“Besides money, he had to choose a ‘perk,'” Hoffman writes. “He wanted his motorcycle and van shipped to Jamaica, where we would shoot most of the film.” Despite the studio’s reluctance, “no other vehicle would do. It might have something to do with the hubcaps of his van being filled to the brim with cocaine.”
While filming in Jamaica, McQueen “smoked weed all day, from the minute he woke up, and tempered that haze with cocaine, for a little kick,” Hoffman adds. “I guess he was self-medicating, as they say today. He never seemed high or horny, though. It was just the Steve McQueen experience.”
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