Dustin Hoffman Confirmed For 'Little Fockers' Reshoots

Not long ago we heard that reshoots for Universal's threequel Little Fockers were potentially going to involve Dustin Hoffman, who appeared in Meet the Fockers, the first sequel to Meet the Parents. Hoffman had originally declined to be a part of Little Fockers for a variety of reported reasons. (Scheduling, the part written for him, financial differences, etc.)

But changes are being made to Little Fockers, and one of them is that Dustin Hoffman has been written back in, and will take part in pickup shooting in September.

Deadline says that Hoffman is definitely in, and that Universal is going to end up paying him what they would have if the actor had been a part of the film all along. That's got to hurt — like I said when this was first reported, that's a seriously expensive fix.

Deadline elaborates, saying that he'll have four scenes: "some pivotal scenes opposite Barbra Streisand, and then in a big scene at the end of the movie involving all the major characters."

I'm curious to see what comes of this development. Neither of the existing comedies are really to my taste, and the first US trailer for Little Fockers really made me cringe. But I'll admit that the international trailer for the film got me laughing a couple of times. Is there more potential in the footage than the US trailer suggested? And if so, what can Hoffman's scenes add to it?

Universal had downplayed the possibility of adding Hoffman when the news was first reported on August 5, saying that the film wasn't really in trouble, just in a normal state of flux. ("As we're continuing to refine the film, one of the ideas that's certainly a possibility is having Dustin be a part of the picture. We didn't call him and say that we desperately need his help or anything like that. But there is one path that we're pursuing that could include his involvement.") That sounded more like rumor control than truth at the time, and more so now.