RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman

Pubrick · March 09, 2014, 11:34:43 PM

Oh. Well I still enjoyed writing that long post that is now buried forever at the bottom of the previous page.

My only hope it's that there will be a rogue future internet archeologist who, after going through ono's complete posting history, then looking at the shoutbox gold thread, takes a special interest in our reaction to the death of PSH. There he will discover my comprehensive breakdow of that particular moment in That Moment, and realise it is a key artefact the prestigious National Museum of PTA Minutia has been looking for.

He will sell it to them for tree fiddy in doge coin, a world record for an internet post, all of which he will donate to the research branch of the PTA University That You Don't Have To Go To, whose two major projects at that time will be: is Pearl a night of the hunter reference; and just how high was Luis Guzman in that one scene.

MacGuffin · June 04, 2014, 10:22:10 PM

Philip Seymour Hoffman returns in aching animated short
Source: EW

We've all been there. Someone passes away, and later you find an audio tape with their voice on it, or spot them in the background of a home video. For a moment, they're with you again.

Fans of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman will always have his movies — but now a two-year old interview with the actor, who died in February at age 46, has gotten new life as an animated short.

The five-and-a-half minute video is part of the Blank On Blank series produced in collaboration with PBS Digital Studios. The brainchild of producer David Gerlach and animator Patrick Smith, the program uses old audio recordings from journalists as fodder for a surreal, sometimes silly, but often poignant animated story.

Hoffman's Q&A was conducted at the Rubin Museum of Art on Dec. 22, 2012 with moderator Simon Critchley. The topic: Happiness. By now we all know about Hoffman's struggle with drug addiction, a battle that ultimately cost him his life. So some of what he says in the video has an eerie, unsettling prescience.

"I think I kill pleasure. Like, I take too much of it in, and therefore make it un-pleasurable — like too much coffee, and you're miserable," the actor says. "I do that to pleasure often. So I don't ... There is no pleasure that I haven't actually made myself sick on."

There's no doubt he was talking about more than coffee. Hoffman was fairly open about his substance abuse struggle, and had remained clean for many years before relapsing.

What this video reveals is a man fully aware of his excesses and darker impulses, and both the yearning and the loss of control that made them dangerous. If anything, it only makes his loss more tragic. But there is a bittersweet quality to the video, too. Despite whatever pain Hoffman fought, there was a joy to the man — an equally strong yearning to reach beyond his own shadows.

It's hard not to smile when the animated Hoffman becomes a child, standing alongside the cartoon representations of his own children. I've written about his relationship with fatherhood before, and this interview showcases similar sentiments the actor had about his family. We're never one thing. Happy, sad ... we're usually both at the same time. It's just a question of which side is winning the tug 'o war.

Alexandro · January 18, 2015, 06:00:17 PM

I took time this week to catch up with some of Hoffman's last performances. I watched God's Pocket and A Most Wanted Man, they were both very underwhelming, but he's good in them. yet it was sad 'cause both film have a lot of potential, but they're just weirdly off.

Fuzzy Dunlop · January 28, 2015, 01:03:13 AM

The Dissolve has an extensive career retrospective out on PSH. It manages to highlight at least 50 of the things that made him so fucking great. I can't believe its been a year, its still really hard for me to think about.

http://thedissolve.com/features/career-view/890-the-epic-uncool-of-philip-seymour-hoffman/

Something Spanish · January 31, 2015, 10:15:34 AM

Saw BN on 35mm for the first time last week, after having not watched it in about 5-6 years. Got major chills when PSH arrives on the big screen. Didn't help that the first shot of Hoffman is Scotty J holding the gate open, stepping aside and watching the bloody OD'd chick being carted away.

OpO1832 · May 14, 2015, 12:44:06 PM

I had the pleasure of running into Philip Seymour Hoffman 2x in NYC. The first time was when I went to see Jesus Hopped the A Train which he directed, my seat was in the back literally right next to him and his table from which he was taking notes. The second time which was a bummer but I will tell this story: I went to go see Othello with him and his friend, the actor ( the kid who gets his throat cut in Carlitos Way) it was an awesome modernization of Othello, the bed was a a series of TVs and Philip could project his voice in a way that few stage actors can. Here is the last memory I have. I was exiting the Skirball theater which is by Washington Square Park, I think its apart of NYU, thats not important, so I am exiting on the side and I walk past this glass door, and inside this glass door connected to the theater is Philip in costume and the actor from Carlitos Way( both Philip and this actor are the head honchos at the LAB Theater company in NYC, which in my opinion is the COOLEST theater company, the writer Stephen Adley Gurgis is the fucking man and he writes for this company, anyway) are blowing smoke out from their cigs, and they I could hear them assessing their performances, I caught this and I had the playbill in my hand! I went to the deli on the corner to grab a fucking pen! and by the time I got back to have those hombres sign my bill, they were gone, the memory lives on !

I miss Philip Seymour Hoffman and watching him on stage here in NYC! He was a god amongst actors, and is a theater legend in my book! Few actors can flow from film to stage like Phil did. Movie actors can't do theatre but theatre actors can do movies!

pete · May 24, 2015, 08:13:53 PM

dude, I don't know who you are but I just blind purchased two tickets to whatever is playing at Lab right now. thank you.

OpO1832 · May 30, 2015, 11:53:14 AM

Philip's wife has a play in production that is full swing at the moment, so that could be interesting its called something girl. LAB is always fun to go to!

The Barn series is fun too, this is when LAB is testing out a new play, think of a soft opening type thing. LAB does these Barn series every so often. Check them out, the tickets are cheap and the plays and actors are so captiviating

wilberfan · December 13, 2017, 10:12:03 PM

Mimi O'Donnell Reflects on the Loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Devastation of Addiction

https://www.vogue.com/article/philip-seymour-hoffman-mimi-odonnell-vogue-january-2018-issue

QuoteI'd seen him in Boogie Nights and Happiness, and he blew me out of the water with his willingness to make himself so vulnerable and to play fucked-up characters with such honesty and heart.

wilder · February 15, 2020, 03:07:06 PM

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Quote from: The PlaylistWhen Showtime finally premiered "Happyish," Steve Coogan had replaced Hoffman, while Ellen Barking replaced Parker Posey and Bradley Whitford joined the cast instead of Rhys Ifans. Even though Kathryn Hahn did stay on the show, John Cameron Mitchell didn't return to direct, as Ken Kwapis took over directing the first episode. "Happyish" would only air 10 episodes before getting canceled by Showtime.