CAPOTE - HOFFMAN TO BARK OSCAR SPEECH?

CAPOTE star PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN is being haunted by a drunken bet he made with friends - that he would bark his acceptance speech if he ever won an Oscar.

The actor and his pals, some of whom collaborated on Capote, made the pact when they were in their teens.

Hoffman is the current favourite to take home the Best Actor prize at the Academy Awards ceremony on 5 March (06).

He explains, "The director of the film (BENNETT MILLER) and I went to college together and the writer (DAN FUTTERMAN) of the film, we all met when we were 16.

"We had this friend at the time, STEVEN, and we all made this drunken pact that if one of us ever won the Academy Award, that we would bark the whole acceptance speech.

"We were very serious. Literally, we were like, 'I'll do that. I will definitely commit to that.'

"Bennett and I met with Steven recently in Los Angeles and he said, 'So remember we made this pact that you have to bark?'

"The thing is you can't just bark, you have to bark until they pull you off (the stage). Let's hope I don't have to get up there."