But after graduating from New York University, where he studied drama, Hoffman took a chance on Tinseltown. Once in Los Angeles, it was the usual story: a few auditions here, some theater there, the inevitable firings from oddball jobs. Then, at age 24, he was cast as a prep-school snitch in 1992’s “Scent of a Woman.” “I remember being so excited,” says Hoffman, “it was such an interesting part, and it had a few great scenes.” Since then, the actor’s made a whole career out of colorful supporting parts. From “Boogie Nights” and “Happiness” to “Almost Famous” and “Red Dragon,” Hoffman has stolen scenes in some of the last decade’s best movies. The actor talked about his two upcoming films–one of which, “Love Liza,” features him in a leading role–with NEWSWEEK’s B.J. Sigesmund. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You’ve mostly chosen provocative supporting roles. Did you chart that path early on?
Philip Seymour Hoffman: No. But I was very conscious of creating characters, and I didn’t want to repeat myself. I just wanted to play different roles and to work with good scripts and good directors.
Your brother, Gordy Hoffman, has said that when you work, there’s “total commitment and immersion.” Talk about how you approach a role.
It depends on the role. If it asks a lot of you emotionally, you need to be there for that when you’re working. That can be taxing and can be immersing. When you’re finished for the day, you kinda want to be alone … So there can be four or five weeks when you’re just kinda not talking to anybody.
Let’s talk about “Love Liza,” which your brother wrote. You play a widower.
At the beginning of the movie, he’s literally four days a widower and he comes upon a suicide note from his wife. It’s the first two months of someone grieving, and the very distinctive path he takes toward the next phase of his life. And that includes a lot of things, including the inhaling of the gas fumes to get high.
Your other new movie is “25th Hour,” which was directed by Spike Lee. You star opposite Edward Norton, whose character’s about to go to prison.
He’s going to jail for seven years. He calls up two of his old friends, one [played by Barry Pepper] whom he’s still very close with, and the other, played by me, he’s not so close with anymore. It’s his last hurrah before jail. But it’s a lot more than that. It’s really a story about these three guys. All three are at points where there are choices to be made.
Talk more about your character, Jacob.
He’s now an English teacher at the high school where we all met. He’s stuck in the past and not a very courageous fellow. It’s a great thing to look at because it goes on around us all the time. He’s not willing to move on.
People have called this a “post-9-11” movie. How so?
The movie’s based on a book David Benioff wrote, which takes place in New York City in the present. So Spike chose to put it in the present, and New York City present is post-9-11. It’s subtext, but Spike has shot it that way. While you’re watching this story, you see that the city they live in his been changed forever. Basically, in my opinion the movie’s saying that if there’s a time, it’s now … and how hard it is for humans–even when something like 9-11 happens–how hard it is to change whatever needs to be changed.
Both your movies are coming out within weeks of each other. But it’s hardly a coincidence. Most of the year’s good movies come out in December these days.
There are a lot of good movies in general. I’ve been a staunch supporter that there are good movies all the time. Most people think otherwise, but I think anything else is very cynical. I do think they’re packing them into December because that’s when a lot of people are going to movie theaters, and they want to get them in before the deadline for the Oscars. And you really don’t want to release “Love Liza” in July. You know what I mean?
Paul Thomas Anderson gave you memorable supporting parts in “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia” and “Punch-Drunk Love.” How do you find more directors like that?
It’s tough, but you just kinda do. You meet people, you like working with them–or you don’t. And they like working with me, or they don’t. Out of that, you gain relationships. Paul just happened to be somebody I met when I was younger. I met him when he was probably 24. We kinda grew up together in the film industry. And so our relationship is very special because of that.
You have appeared in more mainstream films, too, such as “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Red Dragon,” but even then the roles are smaller and more colorful.
I’ve done some films that are more mainstream in the past, and I’ll probably do more in the future. I try not to do any one thing too much because you kinda burn out on it. There’s good scripts and good characters to be played. It’s more about where the good work is.
What recent movies have you liked?
I saw “Adaptation” and thought it was really great. I saw “Far From Heaven,” which was fantastic. I saw “Bowling for Columbine,” which was brilliant. I know there’s going to be like five to 10 movies this year that I’m probably going to say are really great. I don’t know what those people in the awards system are gonna do. I think everyone’s gonna short-circuit.
