Murray Close/Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Co.
A generation of young moviegoers discovered Philip Seymour Hoffman through the recent 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,' in which he plays enigmatic games designer Plutarch Heavensbee, left. But even amidst all that blockbuster machinery, it's not hard to see a master at work.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was in good spirits when I spoke to him briefly at the Sundance film festival two weeks ago about the pair of movies he had there, "God's Pocket" and "A Most Wanted Man."
We'd previously spoken ten years ago, for a political documentary in which he appeared, "The Last Party 2000." But in the intervening years, something not altogether surprising happened: Hoffman had become one of the greatest actors of his generation.
Sony Pictures Classics/courtesy Everett Collection
More than just imitation, in 'Capote,' Philip Seymour Hoffman's interpretation of the author during the writing of 'In True Blood' caught the vampiric quality to celebrity and what it costs. He won a Best Actor Oscar for the role.
With stage-honed chops and old-fashioned character-actor skills, the Fairport, N.Y., native could act more using his gut and his jowls than others could with all their ability. He could make his voice go from a growl to a whine and never lose an ounce of power.
Most crucially, Hoffman got inside the skin of the guys he played, evident in the work he did for director Paul Thomas Anderson: a lovelorn porn film crew member in "Boogie Nights" (1997), a hospice attendant in "Magnolia" (1999) and a manipulative Eisenhower-era cult leader in 2012's "The Master."
AP
Philip Seymour Hoffman's Best Supporting Actor-nominated imagining of an L. Ron Hubbard-like charlatan, right, in 'The Master,' embodies the spiritual shell game that's become an American institution.
By the late '90s, Hoffman went from comedic or dark bit roles ("Twister," "The Big Lebowski," "The Talented Mr. Ripley") to an actor who made vulnerable men likable and made blowhards complex. He was equally memorable as music journalist Lester Bangs in "Almost Famous" (2000) as he was playing a world-threatening villain in "Mission: Impossible III" (2006).
When Hoffman won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Truman Capote in "Capote" (2005), it was one of those moments when Hollywood gets things exactly right. He followed it up by shining in 2007 as both a blue-collar thief in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (diving into a let-it-all-hang-out love scene with Marisa Tomei) and as a hot-tempered career spy in "Charlie Wilson's War."
Francois Duhamel
Tom Hanks, right, may have played the title characther in 'Charlie Wilson's War,' but Philip Seymour Hoffman, left, garnered a Best Supporting Actor nomination as a CIA op with Middle East plans in the 1980s who's pissed off at how he's treated by Washington and rails against The Man.
"The Master," "Wilson's" and "Doubt" — in which he played a priest accused of impropriety —garnered him Best Supporting Actor nominations. And he equally deserved nominations for "The Savages" (2007), "Moneyball" (2011) and "A Late Quartet" (2012).
Hoffman also had a rare gift hardly remarked upon: onstage in "True West" and as Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," and onscreen in "Jack Goes Boating" (which he also directed), "Wilson's" and "God's Pocket," among many others, Hoffman caught the essence of middle-class, middle American men who fight hard for their corner of respectability. He did it with guts and thoughtfulness, the son of a Xerox salesman putting his background into his art.
Andrew Schwartz/AP
As Father Flynn in 'Doubt,' Philip Seymour Hoffman earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his portrayal of a priest accused of impropriety.
It's ironic that a generation of young moviegoers discovered Hoffman through this year's "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (he’ll also be in "Hunger's" upcoming two-part "Mockingjay" conclusion), in which he plays enigmatic games designer Plutarch Heavensbee. But even amidst all that blockbuster machinery, it's not hard to see a master at work.
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Philip Seymour Hoffman was memorable as music journalist Lester Bangs in 'Almost Famous.'
"Capote" (2005) — More than just imitation, Hoffman's interpretation of the author during the writing of "In True Blood" caught the vampiric quality to celebrity and what it costs.
"The Master" (2012) — Hoffman's imagining of an L. Ron Hubbard-like charlatan embodies the spiritual shell game that's become an American institution.
New Line Cinema/Photofest
Far left, Philip Seymour Hoffman portrayed a lovelorn film crew member in 'Boogie Nights,' really getting inside the skin of the character.
"Synecdoche, New York" (2008) — As a mewling, festering mess of a playwright recreating his life as theater, Hoffman gives a performance that's a masterpiece of self-involvement.
"Charlie Wilson's War" (2007) — As a CIA op with Middle East plans in the 1980s and pissed off at how he's treated by Washington, Hoffman is great as a common man railing against The Man.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, left, caught the essence of a middle-class, middle American man who fought hard for his corner of respectability in 'Jack Goes Boating,' which he also directed.
"The Savages" (2007) — Hoffman and Laura Linney are siblings dealing with an Alzheimeric father, each of them comically, nastily disgruntled at life's unfairness.
Think Film/Courtesy Everett Collection
In 'Before The Devil Knows You're Dead,' Phiip Seymour Hoffman, left, played a blue-collar thief and dove into a let-it-all-hang-out love scene with Marisa Tomei, not pictured.
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