Tootsie (1982)

This film was actually funnier than I initially thought

Summary

-Michael Dorsey is an out of work actor. The only way he can get work is to disguise himself as a woman to get work on a daytime hospital drama

Cast

-Dustin Hoffman: Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels

-Jessica Lange: Julie Nichols

-Teri Garr: Sandy Lester

-Dabney Coleman: Ron Carlisle

-Charles Durning: Les Nichols

-Bill Murray: Jeff Slater

-Sydney Pollack: George Fields

-Geena Davis: April Page

Did You Know?

-Initially, Dorothy Michaels did not speak with a Southern accent. While doing research, Dustin Hoffman felt his voice fall more closely into a female pitch while doing the accent

-Most of the dialogue from Bill Murray was improvised

-In a 2014 interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Geena Davis told him that Tootsie was her very first movie and that she was young and inexperienced. Dustin Hoffman acted as a mentor to her. He gave her advice. One tip he said was "I know you're going to move to Hollywood and be successful, and your co-stars are going to hit on you, and you should not sleep with your co-stars. It's a bad idea. So here's what to say. When they hit on you, say 'I would love to', be very flattering, 'but I'm afraid it would ruin the (on-screen) sexual tension between us.'" Geena Davis used that on Jack Nicholson later when he hit on her and he was impressed, wanting to know where she had gotten that line

-When the crew had bad news to give Dustin Hoffman, they would only give it to him when he was dressed as Dorothy Michaels, because they said he was "much nicer as a woman"

-At her parents' evening at school, Dustin Hoffman passed himself off as his daughter's Aunt Dorothy. His performance was so perfect that no one suspected anything was out of the ordinary

-The clothing Dorothy Michaels wore almost always covered Dustin Hoffman's 16'' neck and Adam's apple

-The insane ways that Michael Dorsey gets fired or quits from a production were actual events that happened to Dustin Hoffman

-After playing the role of Dorothy Michaels for the first time, Dustin Hoffman went home and burst into tears, confessing to his wife that playing the role of a woman forced him to face his own sexist perceptions of women that he didn't even realize he had

-Director Sydney Pollack and Dustin Hoffman fought intensely over the littlest things that even Hoffman suggested Pollack playing his agent George Fields so they could use that energy in the film, and perhaps give Pollack a chance to vent

-The first time Michael Dorsey is waking up to play Dorothy Michaels, there is a photo of Dustin Hoffman's mother next to his alarm clock

-To do research for his role, Dustin Hoffman watched the 1978 film La Cauge aux Folles and the 1963 TV program General Hospital

-The breasts Dorothy were prosthetics that had came from a shop specializing in post-mastectomy care and cost $175 each

-Cher and Olivia Newton-John were considered for the role of Julie Nichols

-Sir Michael Caine, Dudley Moore and Peter Sellers were offered the role of Michael Dorsey

-When Michael Dorsey is auditioning for roles, he says he can do shorter. In real life, Dustin Hoffman is only 5'6''

-The film got its name from Dustin Hoffman's mother Lillian Hoffman, who gave her son Dustin the nickname "Tootsie" as a child

-Despite smoking indoors being a banned act today, at the time the film was released smoking was still permitted indoors where it is now banned

-Artist Andy Warhol appeared as himself and went uncredited