Mike Nichols

Robert Redford screentested with Candice Bergen for the part of Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate" (1967), but was finally rejected by director Mike Nichols. Nichols did not believe Redford could persuasively project the underdog qualities necessary to the role. When he told this to Redford, Redford asked Nichols what he meant. "Well, let's put it this way," said Nichols, "Have you ever struck out with a girl?" "What do you mean?" asked Redford. "That's precisely my point," said Nichols. Redford told Nichols that he perfectly understood the character of Benjamin, who was a social misfit. He went on and on about his ability to play the part. Nichols finally said to him, "Bob, look in the mirror. Can you honestly imagine a guy like you having difficulty seducing a woman?"

Dustin Hoffman felt wrong for the role, and worried that his screentest was not going well. In a questionable effort to lessen the tension, he patted and pinched Katharine Ross's behind, which angered her, and she audibly berated him for it. As he left thinking he didn't get the role, his awkwardness was just what Nichols needed for Benjamin Braddock.

Nichols said he felt bad for the gentle and very shy Hoffman, who became an instant celebrity after the film. Nichols would see Hoffman's great discomfort and reticence while being interviewed on television. "He seemed exactly like the boy [Ben] in the picture."

Bancroft loved Nichols' description of Mrs. Robinson as someone who was angry with herself for giving up who she really was, in exchange for wealth and security. This was the aspect of the book (written by Charles Webb) that really captured his interest. When they shot the scene where Mrs. Robinson and Ben discuss art in the hotel room, Bancroft had forgotten Nichols' initial revelation about the character, but managed to capture that anger and regret on subsequent takes. Nichols thought this was very important because he really wanted to drive home the point about the character having bargained away her life. "That seems to me the great American danger we're all in, that we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it."

Nichols realized one reason he had so much difficulty casting the role of Benjamin Braddock after he read a "Mad Magazine" parody of his film. One of the jokes in the parody was Benjamin's asking his parents why he was Jewish and they were not. Nichols, who is Jewish, realized that his film had a subconsciously autobiographical element about being an ethnic outsider in a privileged WASP society.

Happy Birthday, Mike Nichols!