Meryl Streep has recalled Dustin Hoffman slapping her during a scene on ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ and admits she always felt he overstepped the boundaries as an actor with his action.
Streep, 68, starred alongside Hoffman, 80, in one of her earliest films with her performance in the 1979 drama earning her the best Supporting Actress Oscar.
But Streep can never forget that on her first day on set being spontaneously struck by her co-star and although she can accept that Hoffman was in character and committed to his art she feels that his action would not be acceptable during a shoot now.
Speaking to The New York Times, Streep said: "That was when we were making ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’. This is tricky because when you’re an actor, you’re in a scene, you have to feel free. I’m sure that I have inadvertently hurt people in physical scenes. But there’s a certain amount of forgiveness in that. But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping. But I think those things are being corrected in this moment. And they’re not politically correct; they’re fixed. They will be fixed, because people won’t accept it anymore. So that’s a good thing."
Hoffman, 80, has recently been accused by Anna Graham Hunter, who worked as an intern on his movie ‘Death of a Salesman’ in 1985, of sexually harassing her on the set 32 years ago.
Hunter alleged Hoffman "grabbed" her ass on the set and asked her to give him a foot massage and her claims led to him issuing a statement in which he said: "I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am."
This news comes just months after numerous Hollywood stars – including Kevin Spacey and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein – have been accused of sexual harassment and rape allegations.
Meryl Streep believes Dustin Hoffman’s Kramer vs. Kramer slap was too much
