Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director. Today, 1980- 52nd Academy Awards: "Kramer vs Kramer", Dustin Hoffman & Sally Field win. Amazon.com. In 1979's KRAMER VS. KRAMER (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture), Ted Kramer (Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman) is thunderstruck when his wife, Joanna (Oscar-winner Meryl Streep) leaves him and their 6-year-old son without warning. Robert Benton. Meryl Streep talks about Dustin Hoffman slapping her in an early “Kramer vs. Kramer” scene: “But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. He won the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer and won a third Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Places in the Heart. If you want a funny scene you can make a joke. She is persuasive, but then so is Jane Alexander, who plays her best friend, and whose character is a bystander and … Casting a scene for a UT graduate-level student directing workshop. Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, Kramer vs. Kramer remains as powerfully moving today as it was when released in 1979, simply because its drama will remain relevant for couples of any generation. Adapted from the novel by Avery Corman, Kramer vs. Kramer follows the story of Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman).Ted's a workaholic who is not really involved in the domestic life of his wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) and 6-year-old son Billy.He is forced to become involved immediately one day, when Joanna leaves him, forcing him to raise Billy alone. When he gets home, Ted finds out that Joanna has news of her own. Production Description. A just divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him. What is your favorite scene? In "Kramer vs. Kramer," Benton asked her to state her character's own case in the big scene where she argues for her child from the witness stand. The cover story for Vanity Fair's April issue goes behind the scenes of the 1979 film 'Kramer vs. Kramer,' which earned Meryl Streep her first Oscar. The big laugh of "Kramer VS Kramer" got a harder laugh out of me than "1941" could have ever dreamed of. a reimagining of a scene from Kramer Vs Kramer (1979) the script has remained the same. If you want a funny scene you can make a joke. and was an exercise in doing a dialogue scene. If you want a really funny scene make the same joke sandwiched between two dramatic scenes. She's leaving him. Now, in a new interview with the New York Times, Meryl Streep admits that Dustin Hoffman went off script and slapped her during the first take of their first scene together in Kramer vs. Kramer.Streep revealed that Hoffman “overstepped” when he smacked her during an argument scene set outside of an elevator in the 1979 Academy Award-winning film. The movie is Kramer vs. Kramer and I have been meaning to check it out ever since I interviewed director Todd Phillips way back in 2006. Here is an IMDB plot summary of the 1979 movie Kramer vs. Kramer, screenplay by Robert Benton, based on a novel by Avery Corman:. The big laugh of "Kramer VS Kramer" got a harder laugh out of me than "1941" could have ever dreamed of. If you want a really funny scene make the same joke sandwiched between two dramatic scenes. Kramer vs. Kramer Summary Workaholic ad man Ted Kramer just got assigned to a big account at work, and he's stoked to tell his wife, Joanna, all about it.