Dustin Hoffman's Star Shines Bright at Lincoln Center Tribute

Fashion Wire Daily - New York - On Monday night, the Film Society at Lincoln Center honored Dustin Hoffman with a star-studded gala sponsored by Lincoln, Bulgari, Bombay Sapphire, American Airlines and Mandarin Oriental.

Paying tribute to the legendary thespian were Robert DeNiro, Kevin Bacon, Mike Nichols, Jennifer Beals and David O. Russell, the director of I Heart Huckabees.

Ira Resnick, Chairman of the Film Society, opened the evening with a welcoming speech praising the magnificent work of Hoffman. Mike Nichols followed with a speech describing casting and directing Hoffman in "The Graduate," the film that made the actor a star. Bacon, Beals, Russell and Justin Henry, the child actor from Kramer vs. Kramer, each gave a speech to honor Hoffman as well.

The guests attending also enjoyed unforgettable Dustin Hoffman film moments from movies such as "The Graduate," "Midnight Cowboy," "Marathon Man," "Rain Man," "I Heart Huckabees" and "Meet the Fockers."

Robert DeNiro, who co-stared with Hoffman in several films - most recently "Meet the Fockers"- closed the tributes, warmly hollering towards Hoffman, seated in the audience section, "Here's for doing it right!"

Later, in his own thank you speech, Hoffman noted the fact that "Robert DeNiro speaking" is an honor in itself.

Hoffman also admitted his decision to go into acting was based on the fact that he was failing all his college courses and a friend telling him that "nobody flunks acting."

Through acting, Hoffman found focus for the first time in his life, and recalled that while he had felt like a failure in the past, he took comfort in the thought that while most actors are unemployed, they are still actors. "At least it's respectful [being an unemployed actor]," he said of the career choice that later made him a star.

Today, of course, the two-time Academy Award winner (and seven-time nominee) is one of the most respected actors in the industry with roles that have made him a film legend.

The Film Society's honor is awarded each year to a major figure in the film industry with a distinguished body of work. Past honorees have included Michael Caine, Susan Sarandon, Francis Ford Coppola, Jane Fonda, Al Pacino, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood and Charlie Chaplin, who was the first person to receive the award.

David Duchovny Opens Up

Fashion Wire Daily - Los Angeles - "I wanted to make a universal film about growing up, but in order for me to be as keenly specific as I could, then I was going to use stuff from my own childhood, images and things that I knew. I knew the city. I knew the time," Duchovny explains, then elaborates on the title, which refers to a women's "House of Detention," a prison that once was situated smack in the middle of Greenwich Village. "I knew that the House of D was there. And I thought that was an interesting, dramatic situation that I'd never seen before, a prison in the middle of the city where like in a Fellini movie you can stand on the street and talk to prisoners."

And there's more that parallels Duchnovy's childhood, although he is quick to point out that it is definitely not his autobiography.

"I went to a private school [like the lead character]. Yes, I did and I had a scholarship and I was afraid of losing it. My mother was a single parent after I was eleven. So that was similar. The character isn't similar, but the situation is. So I'd say that a lot of the superficial stuff is similar, but my own personal story is not the stuff in the movie."

While "House of D" isn't exactly autobiographical, it is a family affair. Duchovny recruited his famous spouse, Teá Leoni, to play the lead character's mother in the film.

"I didn't write any of the roles for anybody," insists the 44-year-old auteur. "But late in the process she kind of said, 'I'd like to play the role of the mom.' And I said, 'Fine.' It was that easy. I think that we both realized, maybe shortly after that, that she'd be playing my character's mother. So that was just an added bonus."

But the biggest bonus of all was getting the chance to make his first movie where he was the guy that controlled everything.

"I had a wonderful time," he grins. "I mean, I had the most fun in the profound sense of jumping out of bed every morning and being excited to go to work. They wouldn't have to pay me to do this, and in fact they didn't! So I've never been more lit up than I was on the thirty-four days that we were shooting. The rest of directing is that you have to keep your focus and it's a long haul. It's like a year and a half of your life. So it's not every day that you're jumping out of bed ready to work, but every day that I was shooting I was jumping out of bed like, 'What's going to happen today?' It's a good feeling."

Duchovny is hoping that all his "The X-Files" fans will consider checking out his labor of love, but if they don't, he's okay with that too.

"I'm just doing the stuff that's interesting to me. I have that luxury now," he says contentedly.