Sunday, February 2, 2014

Never to be forgotten:
Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967-2014

I was shocked to discover getting online this afternoon that Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead today in New York City of an apparent drug overdose. He had a very successful career with only two roles that could be counted as genre, as Plutarch Heavensbee in the latest installments of The Hunger Games and as a very thinly disguised L. Ron Hubbard in The Master.

I loved his work in so many terrific films, his death at so young an age has hit me as hard as Jimmy Gandolfini's death last year. It's actually somewhat rare that big name actors from the past twenty years or so made no science fiction or fantasy films or TV shows. My favorite performances of Hoffman's are in The Big Lebowski, State and Main, 25th Hour, Cold Mountain, Capote, Doubt, The Ides of March and Moneyball. I just can't believe we'll never see him again.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Philip Seymour Hoffman, from a very big fan. He is never to be forgotten.

3 comments:

  1. all of his movies are so good. I particularly liked The Master and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and his weird little role in Boogie Nights was creepy and sad and awesome all at the same time.

    Elsewhere, someone said that he had a rare gift to make even small roles memorable, while not taking away from any of the other actors. That seems right to me; his small roles were as good as his star turns.

    He burned so brightly.

    Heroin is a bitch.

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  2. Mattie: If "Catching Fire" isn't classified as fantasy or sci-fi, I don't know what should be. Oh, I forgot, you decided to stop watching after the first one. PSH was the new Gamemaster in the second installment of The Hunger Games, and he was totally crucial to the final installments. Between this and Paul Walker, what is Hollywood possibly going to do?

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    Replies
    1. Knowing Hollywood, they'll probably give half the parts to Keanu Reeves, and the other half to Nic Cage.

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