Dustin Hoffman Gave Geena Davis Advice On How To Shut Down Sexual Advances From Jack Nicholson

The legendary Geena Davis has written a biography, entitled, Dying of Politeness: A Memoir. Let me get this straight: overly polite, gorgeous, and a working actress since 1982? Obviously, 66-year-old Geena has enough horrifying #MeToo tales to fill a book. And that’s exactly what she did. Last week, Geena jumped on the Bill Murray Is A Creepy Prick bandwagon when she accused the actor of inappropriately using a massage device on her while making their 1990 film Quick Change. Then, this week, in an interview with The New Yorker, Geena revealed that her Tootsie co-star, Dustin Hoffman, gave her some advice on how to shut down Jack Nicholson’s sexual advances. Awww, good for Dustin! It’s always encouraging to hear about a male ally who– wait, you say 85-year-old Dustin Hoffman has also been accused of sexual harassment? Goddammit.

Back in the early 80s, Geena worked a model before being cast in a bit part in Tootsie. She says that after dinner with some casting directors, 85-year-old Jack propositioned her (at the time, she was in her mid-twenties, Jack in his mid-forties). Geena handled Jack’s advances by channeling some advice she received from Dustin, via IndieWire:

“Say, ‘Well, you’re very attractive. I would love to, but it would ruin the sexual tension between us,’” Davis recalled Hoffman telling her about how to navigate a co-star’s lust. “And I saved that advice away.”

The “Thelma & Louise” star continued, “After ‘Tootsie,’ my modeling agent took me and a couple of other actor-slash-models to Hollywood to meet casting directors. He happened to know Jack Nicholson, and every single night Jack Nicholson had dinner with us. Then one day there was a note under the door that said, ‘Please call Jack Nicholson at this number.’ I was, like, I can’t believe it! So I said, ‘Hello, Mr. Nicholson. This is Geena the model. You called me?’ He said, ‘Hey, Geena. When is it gonna happen?’”

Davis said, “I was, like, Oh, no — why didn’t I realize this is what it was going to be about? But it immediately came into my head what to say: ‘Uh, Jack, I would love to. You’re very attractive. But I have a feeling we’re going to work together at some point in the future, and I would hate to have ruined the sexual tension between us.’ He was, like, ‘Oh, man, where’d you get that?’ So it worked.”

So advice from a creep worked on a creep! By the way, Bill Murray was also in Tootsie, and when those allegations about Dustin Hoffman came out back in 2017, he said Dustin was a “crazy” flirt, but, ultimately, a “really good guy.” I’m not sure I believe anything Bill says about the difference between flirting and harassment, especially after watching this absolutely horrifying Arsenio Hall interview from 1990 that has been making the rounds:

Hoo boy. To quote Game of Throne’s Aerys Targaryen: “BURN THEM ALL!!!”

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