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"Dustin Hoffman&amp;apos;s 1982 comedy Tootsie was no laughing matter for the veteran Hollywood actor. The 75-year-old actor opened up about cross-dressing as a woman for his lead role in the film during a 2012 interview that went viral this week, and in a moving clip, he fights back tears as he remembers the experience.\r\nDuring the interview, Hoffman explains that Tootsie co-writer Murray Schisgal once asked him, &amp;quot;How would you be different if you had been born a woman?&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;Not, &amp;apos;What does it feel like to be a woman, because all sexes have asked the question of what it would feel like to be the opposite sex,&amp;apos;&amp;quot; Hoffman clarifies. &amp;quot;But his question was different. If you were born a woman, how would you be different?&amp;quot;\r\nThe actor goes on to explain that in considering the role, he asked the studio to provide him with several make-up tests so that he could see whether or not he would be able to get into character and stroll through the streets of New York as a woman -- not a cross-dressing man, but as a woman.\r\nThe first time Hoffman saw himself in the mirror in full makeup as his character Dorothy Michaels, he says, he was surprised.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;I was shocked that I wasn&amp;apos;t more attractive,&amp;quot; he admits. &amp;quot;I said, &amp;apos;Now you have me looking like a woman, now make me beautiful.&amp;apos; I thought I should be beautiful if I was going to be a woman. I would want to be as beautiful as possible.&amp;quot;\r\nWhen the makeup team assured him that there was nothing else they could do to make him more &amp;quot;beautiful,&amp;quot; Hoffman says he had an &amp;quot;epiphany&amp;quot; that shook him.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;It was at that moment I had an epiphany, and I went home and started crying,&amp;quot; he says in the AFI interview, fighting back tears as he recounts his realization. &amp;quot;Talking to my wife, I said, &amp;apos;I have to make this picture,&amp;apos; and she said, &amp;apos;Why?&amp;apos; And I said, &amp;apos;Because I think I am an interesting woman when I look at myself on screen. And I know that if I met myself at a party, I would never talk to that character because she doesn&amp;apos;t fulfill physically the demands that we&amp;apos;re brought up to think women have to have in order to ask them out.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;She says, &amp;apos;What are you saying?&amp;apos;&amp;quot; he continues. &amp;quot;And I said, &amp;apos;There&amp;apos;s too many interesting woman I have &amp;#x2026; not had the experience to know in this life because I have been brainwashed.&amp;apos;&amp;quot;\r\nBy the end of the clip, Hoffman&amp;apos;s eyes are misted over as he remembers truly understanding the meaning of female beauty.\r\n&amp;quot;That [Tootsie] was never a comedy for me,&amp;quot; he concludes."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/dustin-hoffman-breaks-down-over-tootsie-role-video-goes-viral-it-was-never-a-comedy-for-me-2013117>