'Nuttiness' stopped Hoffman from directing

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HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. actor Dustin Hoffman said it was his "own private nuttiness that stopped" him from directing a film until his latest project, "Quartet."

"Quartet" -- a film about a retirement home for aging opera singers and musicians -- stars Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon and Billy Connolly, and was written by Ronald Harwood, who won an Oscar for writing "The Pianist." It is set to hit theaters Jan.11. The film is Hoffman's first attempt at directing.

"I wanted to direct for years and years, and it's my own private nuttiness that stopped me from doing it," Hoffman -- a two-time Oscar-winning actor -- said in an interview with Parade. "But I wanted to tell this story. I understand what it's like to be someone who is no longer at their peak but still loves what they do."

Hoffman said American culture allows people to disappear once they reach a certain age, "no matter how well they can still do their craft."

"The faces in this movie are faces of what people look like as they age. People have surgical procedures to pretend that they're not what they are. There's something very strange about that. I think seeing what life does to you and how it etches itself on your face is quite a beautiful thing. I don't want to see someone with plastic surgeries, I want to see life. I think people get more and more beautiful with age," he said.