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Watch Some Of The Best Philip Seymour Hoffman Movie Moments
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 3, 2014
Modified Feb 3, 2014
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 3, 2014
Modified Feb 3, 2014
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The best way to honor the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's inimitable body of work would be to simply watch every scene from every movie he ever appeared in. His film performances were always so reliably riveting that his name in the credits was often the deciding factor in the purchase of a movie ticket. From the snickering, entitled prep school prick in Scent of a Woman to the heavy monomaniacal mysticism of The Master, Hoffman was always the one you couldn't take your eyes off. Here are some of our favorites.
Hoffman's performance as a self-lacerating, lovesick sad-sack in Todd Soldonz's 1998 dark comedy Happiness was blistering and completely unflinching. This type of isolated, awkward character is one many of us have crossed paths with before, but rarely has this sort of guy's vulnerability been rendered on screen with such honesty and lack of judgment. In this role and many others, Hoffman embraces and even honors the ugly, weak sides of wounded people that normally remain in the shadows. It was perhaps his greatest gift:
This immortal scene with Mark Wahlberg in P.T. Anderson's 1997 Boogie Nights is a rhapsody of pitiful neediness and desperation and agony. It was arguably Hoffman's breakout role, and Anderson's long, sustained take here provided the perfect openeing for Hoffman's virtuosity to shine:
A year earlier, Hoffman stole scenes from tornadoes in Twister:
Portraying famous rock journalist Lester Bangs in Cameron Crowe's 2000 hit Almost Famous, Hoffman showed he could play cool and cerebral just as convincingly as creepy and overly emotional... not that anyone had any doubts:
Hoffman was adept at taking a small role and packing it to abundance with seemingly organic idiosyncrasies, making audiences forget that he wasn't supposed to be the main focus of any given scene. His ability to make minor characters unforgettable was on full display in the Coen brothers' cult classic The Big Lebowski, in which Hoffman brought unctuous life to the sycophantic toady Brandt. In a previously unpublished interview with Rolling Stone, Hoffman said, "I was worried what I was doing was too much, but I left really feeling good about it.":
But even when Hoffman did "too much," as he most certainly did in the 2004 Ben Stiller comedy Along Came Polly, he was impossible to resist. Perhaps that's because his excess didn't arise from an egotistical need for attention, but rather a willingness to fully revel in his inner buffoon. Unlike most movie stars, "too much" from Hoffman was rarely flattering. LET IT RAIN:
And let's follow that scene by standing in awe of Hoffman's remarkable range, with this clip from his performance as Truman Capote, for which he rightfully won an Academy Award:
Hoffman was at his most volcanic in this incendiary phone battle with Adam Sandler in P.T. Anderson's Punch Drunk Love:
He won his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in Charlie Wilson's War, in which he brought his signature ferocity to the role of CIA operative Gust Avrakotos. Has anyone's rage and contempt and intelligence ever felt so goddamn authentic?
And here let us savor his titanic, indelible presence in Anderson's The Master:
Finally—and we know we've omitted Doubt, The Savages, Magnolia, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and many others—we'll close with this sadly fitting clip from Charlie Kaufman's disturbing and haunting film Synecdoche, New York:
Damn it, Phil.
Tagged
philip seymour hoffman
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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