Philip Seymour Hoffman

[scarlettina]

So last weekend, while I was at Foolscap, word came that Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors of his generation, had died of a heroin overdose. I've been a fan of Hoffman's for years. He brought warmth and depth and humanity to every role he ever played; I don't think he was capable of giving a bad performance. And now he's gone, the last image left: a dead man with a needle in his arm. It just makes me weep.

I've been upset about the deaths of other famous people before, actors and celebrities that I grew up following or who influenced me in some fashion. But for some reason, nearly a week later, I'm still upset about Hoffman's death. It's not like I knew him or anything. I think it's the senselessness in his death, the idea that a man so gifted was so unhappy, so challenged by life that a dangerous, augmented reality was preferable to the purity of an unaltered experience. He's not unusual in this, I know. I just . . . mourn the performances we'll never see. His family and friends have my sympathy.

I first noticed him in "Twister," in what for some actors would have been a throw-away role in a middling disaster/adventure flick (that I admit I'm still rather fond of). But he managed to make Dusty, a stormchasing hippy, memorable, loveable, entertaining. After that I watched for him in other movies. The next thing I saw him in was "Patch Adams" in a role that couldn't have been more different. Then "Magnolia" and "State and Main" and "Capote" and the list goes on from there. I still have a number of his movies to see, and rented two of them last night--"The Master" (which I watched last night: challenging, brilliant) and "Almost Famous"--to watch in the coming week. His filmography is larger than I realized, so I have more movies in which to discover and enjoy his work. I'm just terribly sorry that there won't be even more.

Comments

[amheriksha.livejournal.com]

I've never connected the fact he was Dusty in Twister! How he was able to morph into truly different people for his roles was one of the many talents that made him a fascinating actor. Personally, I loved his villains. He was able to bring the smiling, heart-stoppingly evil vibe that made his nefarious characters uncomfortably real. It's a damn shame his life ended the way it did.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

I love "Twister" too! It's not a great movie, but it is a thoroughly satisfying one. And, yeah, I had no idea either that PSH played the crazy storm-chaser Dusty in that movie. Wasn't he the one with the line about the "suck zone"?

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

"The Suck Zone". It's the point basically when the twister... sucks you up. That's not the technical term for it, obviously." -- Dusty

Yep, that was him. :-)

[dreamline.livejournal.com]

I haven't been able to shake the sadness of his death either. I felt as though somehow I knew him. I think that is the sign of a great actor; the roles he portrayed always affected me in some way. I think that's where the sense of "knowing him" comes from.

I think the first film I really noticed him in was "State and Main". One of so many great performances!

This is a lovely write-up, Janna. You have inspired me to go through and re-watch (or watch for the first time) some of his performances. "Almost Famous" is one of my favorite films so it will definitely be one of the first viewings. Zach has never seen "Magnolia" or "State and Main" so those are up there too!