Dustin Hoffman he made you want to do for him—to give him one." In "Tootsie" (1982), Hoffman portrays Michael Dorsey, a struggling actor who finds himself dressing up as a woman to land a role on a soap opera. His co-star was Jessica Lange. "Tootsie" earned ten Academy Award nominations, including Hoffman's fifth nomination. Under direction by Sydney Pollack, Hoffman's role demanded "a steady bombardment of opposites—edgy then funny, romantic then realistic, soft then quivering." To film critic David Denby, Hoffman's character "embodies vulnerability and drive in perfect proportion. He has the knack of making everything he does seem perilous, and so
Tobin Bell "stupid or degrading", but he never felt that way. In 1982, Bell had a short uncredited scene in the Sydney Pollack film, "Tootsie", playing a waiter at the Russian Tea Room. He told Movieline, "You know, when you're talking about "Tootsie", it's the tip of the iceberg, because those other twenty-nine films I did aren't even on IMDb." He worked on "The Verdict" (1982) for two weeks as a courtroom reporter in the trial. He recollected it being a "great opportunity" watching Sidney Lumet and Paul Newman, while also learning the technical aspect of acting. For every role he plays,