Meryl Streep's Co-Star Slapped and Taunted Her on Set of Movie With 5 Oscars
Filming with this cult actor is not something every actress can handle.
Sometimes the scandals surrounding the filming of a movie generate more hype than the release of the movie itself, and the relationship between the actors becomes so strained that it is difficult for them to be on the same set.
Such a situation occurred during the filming of Kramer vs. Kramer, starring Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman. The first movie with Meryl was released in 1977 and Kramer vs. Kramer was released in 1979.
This was the beginning of her acting career, but the way she handled all the problems with her co-star shows that she was already a real professional.
Kramer vs. Kramer is a drama with heated emotions, but not all of these emotions were played – some of them turned out to be sincere reactions to improvisations and provocations.
On the second day of shooting, Meryl Streep experienced the real dark side of Dustin Hoffman.
In one of the scenes, his character should have hit Meryl in the face, but instead of pretending Dustin decided to hit her with all his might.
Everyone on set was shocked, including Meryl, who had a big red mark on her face. Commenting on the episode, she said that Hoffman then crossed the line. But the line was far ahead.
To move on to the next episode, one needs to recall Meryl Streep's second movie, The Deer Hunter. In this movie she starred with her husband John Cazale.
It was John who helped Meryl get a role in the movie. Just before starting of filming he learned that he had lung cancer, which progressed rapidly. Shortly after filming ended, John died on March 13, 1978, spending his last days with Meryl.
Dustin Hoffman knew about this story and decided to make Meryl emotional in the ugliest way possible. Before filming a scene, he began to taunt Meryl, joking about John and the disease that killed him.
But Dustin didn't stop there. Before filming the courtroom scene, he walked up to Meryl and whispered the name of her dead husband in her ear until she began to cry.
From that moment on, they took some cute pictures at the Oscars because they had to, and never crossed paths again.
Despite the scandal, the movie went on to become a cult classic, grossing $100 million worldwide and receiving nine Oscar nominations, winning five, including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress.