Dustin Hoffman has managed to enjoy a successful 40-year career as an actor without getting caught up in the other creative aspects of movie making. He has no director or writer credits and nothing substantial as a producer. It’s almost as if he thinks that some people should just be actors and not pretend they have other skills that don’t actually exist. Well, he may have thought that for last four decades, but no more. Hoffman has decided to go whole hog on the adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel, “Personal Injuries,” as star, producer, director, and co-writer.
Hoffman told USA Today that he tried to direct Straight Time way back in 1978 but ended up turning over the reigns to Ulu Grosbard. “I fired myself,” he says now. But he’s apparently willing to give himself a second chance. Hoffman’s currently working on the screenplay because, as he notes, “everything starts with the page.”
“Personal Injuries” will be the fourth Turow adaptation, but only the second on the big screen. The first, Presumed Innocent, was based on Turow’s first (and best) novel. Unfortunately, after his first two books, Turow has become a run-of-the-mill courtroom mystery writer. “Injuries”, which details a bribery scandal and investigation in fictional Kindle County, is not bad, and seems like the sort of straight-forward thriller to help Hoffman break his behind the camera cherry.
