ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXThe Wonderful Philip Seymour Hoffman
11 years, 9 months ago - cath le couteur
If you have seen a film with Philip Seymour Hoffman that you love and think others should see, please contribute.
This quote from him sums up the extraordinary way he made me feel when he was on screen.
"Actors are responsible to the people we play. I don't label or judge. I just play them as honestly and expressively and creatively as I can, in the hope that people who ordinarily turn their heads in disgust instead think, 'What I thought I'd feel about that guy, I don't totally feel right now.' " - Philip Seymour Hoffman
A smaller film he was in that I loved was Love Liza, back in 2002. The screenplay was written by his brother and is a dark comedy about a tech-guy in grief, who turns to sniffing gasoline to deal with his wife's death. Hoffman is incredible in it. Both hilarious and deeply, darkly fragile, teetering on the brink.
Has anyone seen the film he directed - Jack Goes Boating?
Cath
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11 years, 9 months ago - SP User
By all accounts I have heard, he was an 'actor's actor', quiet, warm and supportive who left behind him work that was funny, distinctive and original. As well of course, bereft family and friends. How sad too that he lapsed into an old pattern of behaviour after so long. I will miss him. As I also teach, I found his performance in The Master touching - and a salutary warning! Simon Furness.
11 years, 9 months ago - cath le couteur
I've remembered that I also heard him in New York. He was narrating a section of Philip Roth’s 2006 novel “Everyman” for an event at Carnegie Hall. The story was about a nameless, multi-divorced advertising man in New Jersey grappling with family estrangement. And Hoffman, sat in a high chair, and was startling in his ability to swing/adapt to different characters and voices. All the while keeping it all so intimate.
He loved books apparently. There is a great piece from The Believer here on what books he loved and why. How he used them with his acting --
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200402/?read=interview_hoffman
11 years, 9 months ago - STEVE HANDLEY
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - a stunning performance. Also Spike Lee's 25th Hour - great support acting.
11 years, 9 months ago - Angela Peters
He truly was remarkable wasn't he! I am not sure how I missed it but I only recently saw him in Capote and he was extraordinary. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379725/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_24
Such a talent. A master on screen. He will be missed.
11 years, 9 months ago - Evan Wilkinson
He's excellent in everything, but his creatively frustrated theatre director in Synecdoche, New York is a fantastic performance in one of my favourite films.
11 years, 9 months ago - Eric Colvin
Love Liza, obviously.
First film I ever noted him in. Its themes are eerily close to his likely emotional state - at any rate, as implied by recent reports. He's a terrific actor with phenomenal subtlety and sensitivity - and, in Love Liza you see a younger Hoffman at his simplest and best. Be warned, it is emotionally gruelling - but the sad parts are offset by some pure comedy gold.
Yes, it's a big loss for us - and, surely, a devastating loss for his family. But I suspect his life was far from easy - and sixty-odd films in just forty six years is a legacy to be very proud of.
If I could chalk up just ten great films in my lifetime, I'd die satisfied.
11 years, 8 months ago - Clive Shaw
Fantastic link Lenka. Very moving, what a loss.
11 years, 9 months ago - Jane Hamer
It's gutting. What talent lost. He was one of my favourite actors and I'd watch a film I wasn't keen on just because he was in it. Loved him in Boogie Nights, and so memorable is the small part of Brandt he played in The Big Lebowski - can still see him doing that fabulous awkward laugh.
11 years, 8 months ago - Richard Howard
A film I discovered recently that went straight into my 'favourite films' list after a single viewing is 'A Late Quartet' in which PSH is superb alongside Christopher Walken. I've also watched films I might not otherwise have watched, simply because PSH is in them. Others I've watched and enjoyed recently are 'The Ides of March', 'Charlie Wilson's War' and 'The Master'. He's superb in all of them. Also 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead', directed by the great Sidney Lumet, and 'The Savages'. PSH was unfailingly excellent in whatever he did. I first saw him in 'The Talented Mr Ripley' and never forgot him after that. His screen-presence is always 110% as, it seems, was pretty much everything he did in life. A very great actor who gave so much of himself. I just hope he knew how good he was.
11 years, 9 months ago - L. Sabia-Byrne
What a shame! Such a talented TALENTED man! A real loss to the industry. Capote was a shock for me at how good it was. Totally absorbing performance from him.
11 years, 8 months ago - christopher schonning
Liza is brilliant.
11 years, 9 months ago - Cain Suleyman
Great actor, one of the best
11 years, 9 months ago - John Maloney
This is really upsetting. There's noone like him, is there?
I would put a vote in for 25th Hour, which is a totally overlooked Spike Lee movie from about 10 years ago. Also Synecdoche New York is stunning.
11 years, 9 months ago - Lenka Rayn H.
His performance in Magnolia is so powerful and real.
One of my favourites.
Discussion he had about a year ago on stage with philosopher Simon Critchley called Happy Talk is so worth watching. Hope the link bellow works.
http://www.rubinmuseum.org/pages/load/191