Philip Seymour Hoffman RIP

I liked PSH way more than Phoenix:

"I like the fact that Phoenix refuses to dull Freddie’s rough edges; he creates a supposed protagonist with many facets that seem likely to alienate the audience. However, I think Phoenix can be too mannered at times, and I’m not sure he always gets to the character’s heart; there’s something a bit superficial and showy about his turn as Freddie.

Hoffman hits the sweet spot as Dodd. I think he takes on the most challenging character, as Dodd feels like the one most likely to turn into a caricature – and also the personality with the highest level of potential unlikeability. After all, audiences don’t often identify with and care for the leaders of personality cults.

Despite those challenges, Hoffman delivers a powerhouse performance. He gives us all the appropriate facets required for the character and ensures that we can’t quite pin down Dodd. Given the various pros and cons attached to the role, it’d be easy for an actor to lean one way or another, but Hoffman doesn’t. He creates a full-fledged human here and adds crucial life to the film."

 

Another famous celebrity who was tormented by fame and insecurity who died after suffering through many years of a serious drug problem.

 

I'll play:

 

I you haven't seen "State and Main", try it!

 

And another:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Phoenix

 

Guess Phillip wasn't alone after all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths

 

I have read the final Hunger Games movie will use a digital recreation of PSH in important scenes that he sadly could not film.

 

Nobody saw this one coming?

 

I find the whole thing very sad.

I saw the master at the cinema - which i do not go to often and although i found it slow - i thought it a good film.

Some of the scenes with PSH where intense, like the one posted.

Here is a link to a lot of pictures of the funeral - quite the turn out and some people who i would not have thought of turning up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2554010/Philip-Seymour-Hoffman-funeral.html

Very sad.
Great actor.

 

Not that surprising, he had already finished all of his scenes for Mockingjay Part One and only had 7 days of filming left to go on Part Two. They should be able to work around that with some slight re-writes and some CGI trickery.

 

That is a horrible, sobering list (no pun intended). It's awful to reflect on the names of famous, talented people who were somehow tortured to the point where they had to numb themselves because of their fame and psychological problems. Michael Jackson, Elvis, Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, River Phoenix... the list is way too long already.

Yes, they're much too far in to either recast or reshoot, so my bet is that they'll use a stand-in and then graft a digital reconstruction of Phil Hoffman's face onto the actor, and have somebody imitate his voice. The idea is awful, but I don't see another way around it, and at least the state of the art is at the point where it could work reasonably well.

At least Hoffman is only a peripheral character and not the focus of the entire movie -- like, say, Paul Walker in Fast & Furious. Trying to digitally recreate a guy like that would be a total nightmare.

 

Just watched the Master tonight and thought Philip did a great job in it.

Kind of hard to watch knowing he's gone....

 

I agree but don't blame Sawyer. She, like Brian Williams or Scott Pelley is just an overpaid face reading a prompter fed by the news editors
with approval from the head of the news division. Anchors just sit in the chair and do no news gathering.
Blame the networks.
ABC's Sunday morning news program "This Week" began with (among other stories):

"Silent killer. Is heroin America's new hidden crisis?"

Really? Heroin is new? Not around here it ain't.
Hidden yes. We know that. Nobody does things on the street anymore. Drugs and prostitution moved indoors decades ago.
Bryant park, Union Square park, Sherman Square (Needle park) were cleaned-up a long time ago, no more junkies mainlining on park benches next to the pigeons.
Williamsburg is hip now, not dangerous like before.

News divisions act like only they know whats going on.

 

Something can be old but become a "new crisis". If polio made a comeback, that'd be a "new crisis"...

 

People have no idea what that neighborhood used to be like. If I talk about it to younger folks they look shocked.
Doesn't mean heroin isn't there, it's cheap and powerful and people will always look to get high on something.

 

Very nice mural done as a tribute to the late actor by neighborhood artist Michael DeNicola:

 

It is really a sad commentary when someone's great success cannot bring them peace and satisfaction. It is often said that the price of genius is high and that many who fall into that category cannot take care of themselves or keep their demons at bay. It is a stain on our society to think that when you get involved in drugs that you can control it, pull it back just in time. Even my kids at school tell me how scary those Meth. ads are to them.

The worst part is that even with all this awareness it still goes on. Even those 2 high speed, wrong way driver crashes in CA and FL appear to be DUI's. It is amazing to me how many people get behind the wheel of a car totally blitzed even with all the ad on TV daily.

 

I watched 'Capote' last night. He was so damn good in it. I went back and played a little of his commentary track afterwards but it was too sad and had to stop. Think I might watch "25th Hour" next.

 

I haven't come across a cause of death yet, is there a cause determined yet?

 

Cameron Crowe:

"My original take on this scene was a loud, late night pronouncement from Lester Bangs. A call to arms. In Phil’s hands it became something different. A scene about quiet truths shared between two guys, both at the crossroads, both hurting, and both up too late. It became the soul of the movie. In between takes, Hoffman spoke to no one. He listened only to his headset, only to the words of Lester himself. (His Walkman was filled with rare Lester interviews.) When the scene was over, I realized that Hoffman had pulled off a magic trick. He’d leapt over the words and the script, and gone hunting for the soul and compassion of the private Lester, the one only a few of us had ever met. Suddenly the portrait was complete. The crew and I will always be grateful for that front row seat to his genius."

Source:
http://www.theuncool.com/2014/02/03/psh/

 

Very sad story.

What a brilliant actor he was. That said, the Truman Capote role, while played to perfection by PSH, felt like an Oscar winning vehicle. And the whole film left a bitter aftertaste. I was much more impressed with his roles in Owning Mahowny, or Wilson's War. Unfortunately, there are several movies of him that I haven't managed to watch.

 

I really cannot find a bad performance by him.

 

yes, it was a very sick situation with Capote as a fanboy of a killer...he wasn't thinking with the right head.

 

supposedly Heroin, but it really doesn't matter he's gone and that's sickening enough...someone that brought joy to ppl should not have his personal life ripped apart by the media...the separation of craft and personal life really needs to be explored...Let Them Be....let their craft speaks for itself...their personal life is NONE of OUR Business...

 

Determining a cause of death and making it publicly known, is a common practice whether the person is a pauper or celebrity.
That's what generally happens when there is a post-mortem in a suspicious death, the results are made known to the public.
Whether you or others consider this an invasion of a person's life is neither here nor there. There are plenty of people interested in knowing the cause of death and it is not out of a lurid interest in the man's personal life