TORONTO -- Here's something you don't see every day -- director David O. Russell (Three Kings; Flirting With Disaster) doing a little dance for the benefit of reporters.

"That's the Jewish Hora," suggested actor Dustin Hoffman. Welcome to the press conference for I Heart Huckabees, an unusually amusing affair to launch the new Russell comedy. At the top of the conference yesterday, as the actors from I Heart Huckabees were introduced to the media, Hoffman, 67, broke the ice by hollering, "Why aren't more people applauding?"

Playing mischief maker and general ringleader, Hoffman sat with Huckabees director Russell and co-stars Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Jason Schwartzman. Jude Law and Naomi Watts, also in the cast, did not attend the conference.

"Because it's Jude's son's birthday, and because Naomi is filming King Kong in New Zealand," explained Russell.

"That's no excuse for not being here," chided Hoffman.

I Heart Huckabees stars Hoffman and Tomlin as a married couple who carry out existential investigations.

Russell talked about his Huckabees cast and said he saw The Graduate when he was 15. "And it changed my life."

"I was 15 then too," murmured Hoffman.

Russell's praise for Dustin Hoffman was echoed, minutes later, by Jason Schwartzman, who said, sort of breathlessly, "The first time I ever saw Dustin Hoffman in person was here, two years ago. We were both going through a revolving door. I was going out and he was coming in. It was the day I found out we'd be doing this movie together. Later, I saw him in L.A. with his family and I pulled my car over and followed him through a mini-mall. What I learned from working with him and Lily -- I don't know if I can put it into words, because it will sound cheesy -- but, I learned their love for their craft, how seriously they take it, and how kind they are.

"Also, Dustin set me up with my lady."

Hoffman, in return, called Schwartzman a wonderful young actor, described Lily Tomlin as a brilliant character actress, "posing as a comedian," and said of Mark Wahlberg, "For a guy with such big pecs and biceps, he's a very bright man."

Responded Wahlberg, "We would have connected more if he'd gone to jail at some point in his life."

Hoffman had only praise for David O. Russell. "This is only his fourth film in 10 years, which means he's not an easy lay," the actor said, twinkling at his own joke. "He only makes movies he's in love with."

Hoffman says that for an actor, there is no switch between drama and comedy. "When I was an unemployed actor, if I could splurge and take a cab, the cabbies always said, 'Do you do comedy or tragedy?' But all you have is your own sensibility. You see life ironically or you see it in a heavier way."

He continued, "I hear Woody Allen is making a movie where he tells the same story as a tragedy and as a comedy. If the story is your life, well, to me, life is absurd."

Hoffman spoke briefly about the 'golden age' of Hollywood, an era in which he made his name. During the late '60s and the 1970s, Hoffman starred in such films as The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Straw Dogs, Kramer vs. Kramer, All The President's Men, and Lenny, to name a few.

"In the '70s, the sensibility was to do a good piece of work," he said. "There was no show on TV that told you the top three grossing films of the week. In baseball parlance, you could hit a single, or a double; it just doesn't exist like that now," he said.

He adds, smiling, "I forget your question."


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