Dustin Hoffman describes why he loves the film: Next came director Barry Levinson's "Rain Man" (1988), where Hoffman starred as an autistic savant, opposite Tom Cruise. Levinson, Hoffman and Cruise worked for two years on the film, and Hoffman's performance gained him his second Academy Award. Behind Hoffman's motivation for doing the film, he has said, "Deep inside, "Rain Man" is about how autistic we all are." In preparation for the part, Hoffman spent two years befriending autistic people, which included taking them bowling and to fast food restaurants. "It fed my obsession," he has stated. Hoffman worked at the New York
Dustin Hoffman in the 2004 comedy "Meet the Fockers", a sequel to "Meet the Parents" (2000). Hoffman won the 2005 MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. In 2005, he voiced a horse in "Racing Stripes", and appeared in cameo roles in Andy García's "The Lost City" and on the final episode of HBO sitcom "Curb Your Enthusiasm"s fifth season. Hoffman appeared in "Stranger than Fiction" (2006), played the perfumer Giuseppe Baldini in Tom Tykwer's film "" (also 2006), and had a cameo in the same year's "The Holiday". In 2007, he was featured in an advertising campaign for Australian telecommunications company