Philip Seymour Hoffman Movies: Actor on the Parts He Played

‘Almost Famous’ (2000)

"There are books, tapes, photographs that can help you, which you don't have when you're creating a fictional character. But once you get that information, you have to start looking at the character as fiction. When you're playing someone who really lived, you carry a burden to be accurate. But it's one that you have to let go of ultimately. You want somehow to be able to create the character in such a way that people actually stop thinking about the fact that they're watching a real person." — On playing a real-life character like music journalist Lester Bangs
‘Boogie Nights’ (1997)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: The Kobal Collection/New Line Cinema

"When we came to do [the kissing scene], Paul [Thomas Anderson, director] said to Mark [Wahlberg], 'Don't reject him on the first two takes,' but he didn't tell me. So at first, Mark was coming at me, and it was wild because the thought of my character, Scotty J., getting what he wanted was much scarier than being rejected. It's like, when you get what you want, what are you going to do with it? Anyway, Mark and I kissed a lot that evening." — On kissing co-star Wahlberg
‘Doubt’ (2008)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: The Kobal Collection/MIRAMAX

"I had seen the play, and I started thinking about him as a drifter. He's been in a few parishes, Northeast somewhere. I thought about him as somebody who was definitely of the future, somebody who wanted to vitalize the church, to turn the church into a place where people wanted to hang out, the hotspot. The people would go to the church with all their thoughts and feelings, not just the ones they weren't ashamed of. But the ones they were also ashamed of, they would be embraced with warmth and passion." — On his approach to his character, Father Flynn, whom Meryl Streep's character Sister Beauvier accused of molesting an altar boy
‘Capote’ (2005)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics/courtesy Everett Collection

"I was particularly interested in the idea that someone could be at that point in their life and ultimately that would be the beginning of the end. That something that could bring you such wealth and such fame could also be your end, your undoing." — On what fascinated him about playing the title role of the American author, for which he won an Oscar
‘Flawless’ (1999)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

"I was panicked. I knew my habits of behaving weren't gonna work. I had to forge a new voice, carriage, look, everything. I wanted to be accepted as a woman, and if I didn't get it right, I knew people would say it was bullshit. So I'd watch the tape, blanch and go: 'Oh no! Oh f—in' no!' " — On his concerns about playing a drag queen in the Robert De Niro movie directed by Joel Schumacher
‘Happiness’ (1998)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: Lions Gate Films/courtesy Everett Collection

"It's hard to sit in your boxers and jerk off in front of people for three hours. I was pretty heavy, and I was afraid that people would laugh at me. Todd said they might laugh, but they won't laugh at you. Sometimes acting is a really private thing that you do for the world." — On playing Allen, an insecure man who masturbates while making obscene phone calls to his neighbor, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, in the Todd Solondz-directed movie
‘Magnolia’ (1999)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection

"Everything I play is close to me in its own way. But I think, characterwise, the role where I just kind of showed up to work and didn't do much is Magnolia. It's more just kind of me than anything." — On the role that was closest to Hoffman as a person
‘The Master’ (2012)

Image Credit: Photo Credit: The Weinstein Company

"What you go through with another actor is a very intimate thing. I can go 10 years and not see Joaquin Phoenix, and then when I see [him], the connection's immediate — and that connection might be awkward, but it's going to be informed by the fact that we did something together that I'm not going to do with 99.99999 percent of people, even people in my family." — On his co-star in the movie about an L. Ron Hubbard-like religious leader

‘Almost Famous’ (2000)

‘Boogie Nights’ (1997)

‘Doubt’ (2008)

‘Capote’ (2005)

‘Flawless’ (1999)

‘Happiness’ (1998)

‘Magnolia’ (1999)

‘The Master’ (2012)