The Graduate/Trivia

• Dawson Casting: Dustin Hoffman was 30 and Anne Bancroft was 36 at the time this film was made. And she's supposed to be old enough to be his mother. And the movie works.
• Star-Making Role: For Dustin Hoffman.
• Throw It In: Ben grabbing Mrs. Robinson's breast during their first liason was completely unscripted, and the reason Ben walked to the back of the room and started banging his head against the wall after she didn't react (see Wall Bang below) was because Dustin Hoffman couldn't stop laughing.
  • Ben stretching out his arms while banging on the window during the wedding, often seen as a piece of Crucifix imagery, was actually just because Hoffman was worried about breaking the window.
• What Could Have Been: Gene Hackman (who'd started his acting career alongside Dustin Hoffman at the Pasadena Playhouse, and was just seven years older than Hoffman) was considered for the role of Mr. Robinson. Candice Bergen was considered for the role of Elaine. Patricia Neal, Ava Gardner, and Doris Day were considered for the role of Mrs. Robinson. Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Charles Grodin, and Burt Ward (yes, the Boy Wonder himself) were considered for the role of Benjamin.
  • Pretty funny to think of Warren Beatty and Doris Day trying to play the virginal Ben and the vampy Mrs. Robinson.
  • Mike Nichols asked Paul Simon to write a whole batch of new songs for he and Garfunkel to record expressly for the film. Only one of the new songs ("Mrs. Robinson") was deemed good enough to use, so preexisting S&G recordings were used to fill the soundtrack instead. However, two of the other intended songs ("Punky's Dilemma" and "Overs") would be included on the duo's Bookends album the following year.
    • And "Mrs. Robinson" might not have ever been if Simon and Garfunkel hadn't already been working on a song called "Mrs. Roosevelt" which they repurposed in thirty seconds at their first meeting with Nichols.