By Steve Ramos

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in State and Main

Photographers, reporters and TV cameramen cram into a smallish hotel meeting room. It's the Toronto Film Festival press conference for writer/director Cameron Crowe's Rock & Roll drama, Almost Famous, but Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the rebel Rock critic, Lester Bangs, sits at the end of the front table, silently reading a book he's brought with him. It's clear he has little interest in the hype and glamour surrounding the movie. That is, until a question about integrity grabs his attention.

"I think a lot of us have a little bit of Lester Bangs in us," Hoffman says. "I think a lot of us edit ourselves because we want to keep our jobs and want to keep our lives."

Hoffman is not a megastar accustomed to intense media scrutiny. Well, at least not yet. He is a character actor, best known for a series of cinematic outcasts: a "pre-op" transsexual in Flawless, a sexual deviant in Happiness and the gay member of a porn film crew in Boogie Nights.

Writer/director David Mamet puts Hoffman in an unusual predicament for his showbiz satire, State and Main. Hoffman ditches his outcast roles for a shot as a romantic leading man. In the film, Hoffman plays Joseph Turner White, a frustrated screenwriter who comes to a small town in Vermont to watch the production of his movie.

"There is nothing extreme about him," Hoffman says, speaking the following day in a Toronto hotel room. "I am almost a straight man in the movie, and that is new for me. Watching it is uncomfortable, because I look at how normal and straight-up I am. That's why I took the part, and it's just as challenging as any role I've played because I had to keep things in check. I'm not like that guy at all. I'm very confrontive, and I'm very gregarious. I'm also very wary and mistrustful of things that are coming my way."

Hoffman looks like a regular Joe clad in baggy khakis and lace-up sneakers. He paces the room energetically. Every word and booming sentence is accompanied by movement. Hoffman doesn't just speak with his hands. He speaks with his entire body.

But he's quiet about his personal life. Hoffman was a high-school jock, growing up outside Rochester, N.Y., who pursued drama after being sidelined by a sports injury. After studying theater at New York University, he has made New York City his permanent home.

Hoffman's first love remains the theater. He recently directed Jesus Hopped the "A" Train for the LAByrinth Theater Company. In a recent revival of the 1980 Sam Shepard play, True West, Hoffman and John C. Reilly wowed critics and audiences by alternating in the roles of the mild screenwriter, Austin, and his volatile lowlife brother, Lee.

"Its my life (LAByrinth)," Hoffman says. "They're the center of my world, one of my top priorities. I just came from them. We're having a retreat in upstate New York right now. It was awful having to leave. These are my close artistic friends. These are the people I deal with on an intimate level, more than anybody else."

It's often noted that Hoffman is not an actor blessed with celebrity looks. Of course, that's probably why he's able to tackle various roles. The ongoing question is: Will Hollywood always give Hoffman the chance to show his potential?

"I think the opportunities are out there," he says. "I also think there are a lot of people who get into acting and don't know what acting is. I think they're getting into it because they think it's being in movies and being in magazines. But there are all these great actors on TV and movies. You know that they know what acting is, and they studied and have done their work. I would say that, if anything, what we're missing is enough people to go, 'C'mon, let's really get to work and do some great stuff.' "

His anonymity fading, some say Hoffman is on the brink of a major career. Artistically speaking, he's been having a major career for some time. ©

E-mail Steve Ramos

Couch Potato (January 11, 2001)
ARTS BEAT (January 11, 2001)
Arts Beat (January 11, 2001)
    more...

personals | classifieds | cover | listings | humor | news | movies | music | arts & entertainment | dining | classifieds | mediakit | home

The Robert Redford Project
Breakout films await at Sundance Film Festival 2001

Enter the Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon rekindles director Ang Lee's boyhood heart

Opening Films

Continuing Film

Couch Potato
Unseen in Cincinnati

Opening Films