Dustin Hoffman & Emma Thompson Talk To 50connect

Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson were reunited at the UK premiere of Last Chance Harvey at Leicester Square’s Odeon Cinema and took time out to chat to 50connect about their new romantic comedy.

New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is on the verge of losing his dead-end job as a jingle writer. Warned by his boss (Richard Schiff) that he has just one more chance to deliver, Harvey goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter's (Liane Balaban) wedding but promises to be back on Monday morning to make an important meeting - or else.

Harvey arrives in London only to learn his daughter has chosen to have her stepfather (James Brolin) walk her down the aisle instead of him. Doing his best to hide his devastation, he leaves the wedding before the reception in hope of getting to the airport on time, but misses his plane anyway. When he calls his boss to explain, he's fired on the spot.

Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate (Emma Thompson), a slightly prickly, 40-something employee of the Office of National Statistics. Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phones calls from her smother mother (Eileen Atkins), is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energized by her intelligence and compassion.

The 71-year-old Hoffman - famous for roles in The Graduate and Rain Man - joked with fans and kissed his co-star on the cheek on the red carpet before admitting he jumped at the chance to work again with Thompson with whom he previously starred in Stranger Than Fiction in 2006.

"It's a gift to be able to work with her, it's a pleasure. She's so charming and quick-witted. I’m stunned that she’s not talked about more often as one of the leading ladies in cinema. She’s absolutely fantastic.

“We’re good friends and I said to her after Stranger Than Fiction that we’d have to work again sometime in the future and luckily we have done.

“Because we’re friends as well it means most of what you see on screen is real. Sometimes in film you have to fake it but not with Emma – everything in the film is completely true and I think it works well.”

“Emma and I are creatively married. It's an extraordinary feeling when we work together. I don't think we - or, I'll speak for myself, I - have ever done anything closer to myself than the work I do with her. Marriage should be this easy, right?”

Hoffman has said the chance to film in London was also a big attraction in agreeing to the film.

He says, “It's a favourite place of mine. I've been going there since my honeymoon with my first wife in 1969. I've been coming ever since. Theatre used to cost about two dollars, but then, I guess, you guys started to copy Broadway. Despite the price it's still retained the charm as when I was here first."

“London’s a magnificent city, I love the British people, I love their humour and wit and the place is so grand that it makes the film setting even more beautiful.”

Hoffman also scoffed recent retirement rumours and declared he’s still a romantic at heart,

"I can only say I never tire of pulling a chair out for my wife or any other person, or of helping anyone out of their coats. You do this stuff, you're enjoying life – I’m not afraid to say I like romance - it’s a beautiful thing.

“And I certainly don’t see myself quitting film anytime soon. In fact not at all because I don’t see filming as working. I love it, it’s great fun and it keeps me on the straight and narrow. I want to go just go on and on and I don’t want any of it to stop. Life’s great at the moment so why would I want to stop?”

In the film, Hoffman plays hapless New Yorker Harvey Shine, who befriends Thompson's character Kate and she was full of admiration for her co-star.

“What can you say? How can you sum him up? You just can’t. He’s a complete legend and not just as an actor. He could have easily been a comedian; he has us all in stitches but he’s an utter professional too and I think he’s out of this world as Harvey in the film.”

The 50-year-old Nanny McPhee star also discussed how she’ll handle her daughters dating life as a mother.

She says, “My character, Kate, has a mum whose husband has left, and she's trying to make a mate of her daughter.

“Lots of women in my generation seem to do that with their teenage daughters — it can be disastrous: you need your mum to be your mum, not someone to giggle with you about which guy to sleep with.

“But I think the real lesson is that it's about the dad — when husbands and fathers leave, their wives and daughters tend to value themselves less as a result. That seems true for Kate and her mum.

“The film is more of a first in its style and variation. People talk about romcoms but this is more of an adult romcom; it’s not for me to say but it was beautiful to make and I hope that beauty shines through.”

The romantic film is written and directed by Briton Joel Hopkins, whose acclaimed debut Jump Tomorrow landed him a 2002 Bafta for most promising newcomer. The supporting cast includes Dame Eileen Atkins, Liane Balaban, James Brolin, Kathy Baker and Richard Schiff.

The film, set in London, was also nominated for a Golden Globe in the comedy-musical category. It is released nationwide on Friday, 5th June 2009.

By Mark O'Haire

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