Philip Seymour Hoffman c/d?

he's so good in that

No one is. The extras are terrible in it.

lol

Very moving piece by Lester Bangs' friend and colleague Jaan Uhelszki:

http://www.spin.com/articles/philip-seymour-hoffman-lester-bangs-almost-famous/

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, February 3, 2014 6:46 PM (26 minutes ago)

thanks for this -- an incredible read. gave me chills tbh.

clemenza otm about magnolia and yet it's still terrible

almost famous i will always like, and PSH is so great in it. i loved this part in the spin piece:

One of Lester's more annoying habits was that he always talked with food in his mouth — and one that I'd almost forgotten about. That is, until I saw the same behavior in Hoffman.

this has greyed things for me too. i keep thinking about his bouncy arms in lebowski. i didn't think that brody piece was very good.

But I didn't tell Cameron any of those things. I kept the list to stuff like personal hygiene, work ethos, favorite foods, or how when he was excited about something he was prone to grand, wild gestures, making big lavish circles in the air, or how he'd always pace when he talked on the phone. How he watched the soap opera All My Children religiously, owned a hermit crab named Spud, and that when things got bad, he used to say, "I could be selling shoes in El Cajon." But I never told anyone about how he used to talk with his mouth full.

"Lester"

but surely SOMEONE told him Bangs ate that way. PSH being quoted all over the place that acting is work, not magic.

but yeah Before The Devil is disgraceful. I suppose Sidney Lumet didn't wanna die without leaving the world a final movie in which the actors shout all the time, at once, and senselessly.

sorry if i am repeating something already said on this (understandably) lengthy thread, but just wanted to note that my favourite PSH performance is his role as Jude Law's sharp-eyed friend in The Talented Mr Ripley. and RIP.

i don't think it seems like magic is the thing! it seems like excellent intuitive work.

LB does seem like the kind of guy who would talk excitedly while eating.

A good performance we haven't mentioned much: The Savages.

mentioned by morbs and others in this thread: "owning mahowny" is really good. simple and minor, i guess. but he invests a lot of... something into a guy who is almost totally devoid of personality.

He was excellent as Bangs. The key was in not going for the cartoon gonzo Bangs; PSH portrays him as a thoughtful older brother. In the Greil Marcus interview on rockcritics.com, he had some pointed criticisms of the film, but he singled out Hoffman and Billy Crudup for praise--and I'm sure Marcus would have all over Hoffman if the character felt in any way false to his own memories of Bangs.

befor the devil is awesoem

http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/03/philip-seymour-hoffman-last-photos/

That Edelstein PSH quote way up there gets to some of the heart of his craft:

When you hear about cutting-room fights, it almost always means the star thinks he or she is coming off as too unlikable and wants the director to ratchet up the vulnerability quotient. But Hoffman was arguing to make Capote less attractive—to make him, in fact, thoroughly reprehensible. He said he told Miller, “The way toward empathy is actually to be as hard as possible on this character.”

That, plus being able to play so many characters with different centers of gravity, physicality, all that. Funny how he's done so many movies that we're like..."Oh, wait, right, The Ides of March."

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/02/philip-seymour-hoffman-1967-2014/

Hoffman was a true body-actor. No doubt his athleticism and devotion to sports in his youth helped him toward the remarkable physical control he displays in all his performances. In an era when so many leading men and women seem unable to act at all below the neck, Hoffman’s gestures and stances sear themselves into your memory. I didn’t much care for Capote, but I still remember precise Hoffman postures. One was the too-constrained, too-still way he held himself in, with his large square head tilted uncomfortably back, in those repeated long-held shots of Truman Capote sitting alone in the small airplane to and from his jailhouse visits to the In Cold Blood killers who infatuated him.

lolmillennials i guess @ that whole thing being abt lebowski but it's otm about the moves he makes as that character: so conceptually broad and goofy, this terrified/enraptured toady, but built entirely of little things. near-absurd gestures like the the pantomime grief that article mentions on "mr. lebowski is in seclusion in the west wing" work cuz they seem legitimate as crisis versions of all the little motions he's making all the time. first lady of the nation, yes.

i always think of his weird at-attention stance when he's no longer part of one conversation

yeah i kinda winced at all the smug dismissals of the other movies but i thought it was dead-on for how unusually physical his talents were, whenever i think of PSH in a movie i can instantly recall a certain pose or a gesture, something no one else would've thought to do.

David Thomson has something up:

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116447/philip-seymour-hoffman-dead-46

So Hoffman was on his way to becoming a supporting actor--

Was thinking about this too, how he was one of those people who won a Best Actor award but clearly wasn't going to slide easily into starring roles, unless it was something really offbeat like The Master or Synecdoche. (Of the two upcoming films, he seems to be the lead in one of them.) Like Hackman, he might have been more at home in the '70s. Or not--maybe he was exactly perfect for when he came along.

On his way to supporting actor...right after playing Willy Loman on Broadway for three-and-a-half months.

On a separate topic, it does sound like doing that show, with 8 performances per week, was exhausting.

wow, i can imagine. he had already started the show or was preparing for it?

p sure that "supporting actor" ref was to films. You didn't see Brian Dennehy playing a lot of movie leads in the late '90s when he did Salesman on B'way.

Last thing I saw him in was early episode of Law and Order, he stood out since most of the others couldn't act that well. RIP

he already did death of a salesman

He performed it in Spring 2012, with Mike Nichols directing. Not to overspeculate, but was thinking this was around the same, from what he said, he started taking painkillers.

Also thinking how Cobain always attributed his heroin use to fighting a chronic stomach ulcer,and how if there's something that takes away pain (physical, emotional) it sure it hard to push that thing away.

I see. That's why I asked. It makes sense. I started reading Barry Meier's Pain Killer last night because I guess I wanted to wallow in misery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcTf7CO-hdA

that minty flavor.

I just found out about this a few hours ago while I was at work. I was so shocked and saddened I had to leave my desk and go for a walk to clear my head. He was easily my favorite actor. The word gets thrown around a lot but I believe he was a true genius in his field.

that first "fuck you" in the kools outtake is just the most human amazing guys-working thing

just two guys smoking kools

clips like that break my heart

ultimate wkiw

My dad smoked Kools and that clip makes me wonder if he had convos like that.

u can tell they're going to crack up before he even says anything

Last thing I saw him in was early episode of Law and Order, he stood out since most of the others couldn't act that well. RIP

― badg, Monday, February 3, 2014 4:39 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Watched this ep tonight, bonus appearance from Samuel L Jackson.

Also this ep is his first imdb entry. He doesn't do a whole lot.

ultimate wkiw

this^^^

omg <3 that kools clip. three great readings!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy1Q1WL57Qo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkeLGisUHtc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ornzkdo9t1w

he looks off his nut i that tbh

Half-related, someone reposted this Russell Brand essay on addiction and empathy: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/mar/09/russell-brand-life-without-drugs

Whatever his failings in other areas of public discourse, that is a really really strong piece.

Agree!