While Robert Benton‘s 1979 legal drama ‘Kramer vs. Kramer‘ was about a messy fictional custody battle, the cast and crew were dealing with a different war behind the scenes. During the filming, the movie’s leading actor, Dustin Hoffman, was going through a serious divorce.
Instead of leaving that baggage at home, he ended up taking his anger out on a young Meryl Streep in some pretty boundary-crossing ways. Decades later, the problematic details from the movie set continue to reshape how we remember the acclaimed movie, which dominated with five Academy Award wins in major categories.
It All Began With Meryl Streep’s Script Amendments
While ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ turned out to be a success, the filming schedule had its fair share of heated moments. The whole crew soon learned about the uncomfortable dynamic between Streep and Hoffman. It only intensified, forcing the latter to do the unthinkable.
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Released in 1979, the movie follows a separated couple with a kid. “After his wife leaves him, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive is forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills, but a heated custody battle over the couple’s young son deepens the wounds left by the separation,” the movie’s synopsis read.
As for the problem, it arose when Streep made some last-minute amendments to the movie’s script, which Benton accepted. She wanted her character to have the opportunity to better explain the reasons for leaving her family.
Later, Streep herself wrote the courtroom monologue for the character, giving her a voice which was largely lacking in the screenplay. That move reportedly infuriated Hoffman, who had already practiced the scene in its original form.
After being fed up with the repeated delays and changes, he yelled at his co-star. “Meryl, why don’t you stop carrying the flag for feminism and just act the scene?” On top of this, Hoffman got into a physical altercation with Streep during a scene. He pulled a move that wasn’t in the script.
Dustin Hoffman’s Divorce Drama Crossed All The Lines
He slapped her out of nowhere, a gesture that made the final cut as documentation of domestic abuse. “This was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me,” Streep told in a 2018 interview with The New York Times.
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The incident itself was undoubtedly condemnable, but Streep also questioned its inclusion in the movie. “And you see it in the movie, it was overstepping.” In reality, it was Hoffman’s divorce that made him blur the lines between fiction and real life.
When the actor came on set to portray an angry man going through a disturbing divorce, he wasn’t faking his emotions. “I’m sure I was acting out on her [Streep] throughout the movie,” he told the Huffington Post. “Stuff that I was feeling toward the wife that I was divorcing in real life.”
As a novice actress, Streep bore the brunt of his irritable behavior during filming, and they often seemed at odds. Hoffman later apologized for his behavior. He stated, “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,” he added. Most actors who worked with him after this troublesome period seem to have fond memories of the experience. However, the slap and the frostiness have been unforgettable for Streep.
Speaking about the progressive trend that mitigates such on-set issues, the actress shared a positive outlook. “I think those things are being corrected in this moment. And they’re not politically corrected; they’re fixed.”
“They will be fixed, because people won’t accept it anymore. So that’s a good thing,” she added. The bitter legacy of ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ shows that the artistry of genius should not come at the price of the individual.
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