Hollywood titan Dustin Hoffman has said the state of film is the worst it has been during his lifetime.

The two-time Oscar-winner, 77, told the Independent that television had overtaken the movies as his medium of choice, and said financial deliberations were crippling the industry.

“I think right now television is the best that it’s ever been,” he said. “And I think that it’s the worst that film has ever been – in the 50 years that I’ve been doing it, it’s the worst.”

The actor and director lamented changes to shooting schedules due to advances in digital technology, which mean that directors can be pressured to finish movies in three weeks or less.

“It’s hard to believe you can do good work for the little amount of money these days,” he said. “We did The Graduate and that film still sustains, it had a wonderful script that they spent three years on, and an exceptional director with an exceptional cast and crew, but it was a small movie, four walls and actors, that is all, and yet it was 100 days of shooting.”

Hoffman said his best-known early role came largely by chance. “I was a freak accident, so I got a lead that happened to be The Graduate and it was like a light switch went on and I was an instant star,” he said. “For most actors you start by playing euphemistically called supporting roles, it’s not even the supporting role it’s less than that, and if you are lucky you build up to supporting roles and then to starring roles – and then you reach a certain age, and unfortunately women usually reach it earlier, and you are no longer the leading man, therefore you become the supporting actor, which many times is the mentor of the lead. That is full circle.”

Hoffman, currently starring in drama The Choir, said he was struggling to find his next directing role after making his debut on 2012’s Quartet. “I’m looking at everything that comes to me, I’m not getting much as far as directing is concerned,” he said. “I don’t think that has anything to do with whether you are good or not, it’s just about whether your films make money or not.”

Quartet’s musical theme offers a clue as to the actor-director’s true passion: he said he regretted failing to become a professional pianist rather than appearing on camera.

“I love it more than anything,” said Hoffman. “But I can’t play well enough to make a living out of it. If God tapped me on the shoulder right now and said ‘no more acting, no more directing, but you can be a decent jazz pianist’ ... I could never read music gracefully. I don’t have a good ear. I still want to do it. I would love to do it.”