Philip Seymour Hoffman - Premiere Magazine

WITH CAPOTE ABOUT TO RECONFIRM IT, YOU’VE QUIETLY BECOME CONSIDERED ONE OF OUR GREAT ACTORS. BUT, HEY, IS IT WEIRD TO BE SO REVERED AT A MERE 38?
(laughs) I always wonder who’s doing the revering.

WELL, WITH CAPOTE AND YOUR TOTAL TRANSFORMATION INTO CIRCA ’64 TRUMAN C., IT’LL PROBABLY BE BY OSCAR VOTERS.
I will accept whatever comes. (laughs) That said, who knows?

AS AN ACTOR WHO’S OFTEN DECLARED, ‘ACTING IS DIFFICULT,” WAS BEING TRUMAN HARD?
Put me through the ringer—it was just an extraordinary amount of self-criticism playing that guy. There were tons of pitfalls, the most I’ve ever played.

AND THAT’S COMING FROM A GUY WHO PLAYED A DRAG QUEEN OPPOSITE DeNIRO, FOLKS. BY THE WAY, THE GAYS HAVE BEEN AWFULLY GOOD TO YOU. ARE YOU NUTS? DID YOU NEVER THINK “I CAN’T DO THAT BECAUSE IT’LL HURT MY CAREER”?

That doesn’t make sense to me—when I played Dusty [Flawless] or Scotty J. [Boogie Nights] or Truman, they’re all distinctly different people. I’d like to know why anyone would say that, ‘cause playing gay hasn’t hurt my career.

YEAH, BUT YOU’RE A DAREDEVIL—FROM THE LONELY, OBSCENE PHONE CALLER IN TODD SOLONDZ’ HAPPINESS TO THE SAINTLY NURSE IN PAUL ANDERSON’S MAGNOLIA YOU’RE ALWAYS GOING TO DEEP, DARK PLACES. IS THAT EVER SCARY?
Yeah. No. Well…..it’s just that when you’re exploring certain characters you have to think about certain things, sometimes—you have to think about shit like “Why would a guy make prank phone calls to strangers in a sexually aggressive fashion?” (laughs) That’s where it gets dark.

AND A LITTLE KINKY: LIKE, EVEN FOR YOU, WAS FILMING HAPPINESS’S MASTURBATION SCENE DICEY?
That was a hard day: I remember I was pretty heavy, sitting in my underwear in front of all these people and having this “Oh, fuck” moment of “I don’t know if I want all these people to know this much.” I said to Todd, “I’m just afraid people will laugh,” and he said, “They will, but they’ll understand, they’ll see the pathos.”

AND THAT’S WHAT YOU DO—THOUGH IT MAY SOUND A LITTLE SAPPY, IN YOUR WORK YOU’VE GIVEN VOICE TO A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE ONE.
Actually, my mother said the exact same thing to me years ago and I said that that was something I would own. Because I think it’s important. Maybe that’s why I get the label, “the weird guy,” but….

YEAH, YOUR CHARACTERS ARE FOREVER BEING PEGGED “PERVERTED” OR “LOSER”—SEEMS MOST FOLKS DON’T WANT TO ADMIT THAT HUMANS ARE, WELL, FREAKS.
That’s what I think—people are very odd in general, but people in private when they’re alone in their own head? The places people go, you just don’t wanna know! (laughs)

YEP, SO I BET LOADS OF FANS BRING UP YOURS AND ALONG CAME POLLY’S POOP JOKE GIFT TO THE LEXICON: “SHARTING.”
Yeah, they just come up and say it: “I sharted.” I usually just smile and I think they’re a bit disappointed ‘cause I didn’t laugh out loud like they did when they first saw it. Or shit my pants. (laughs)

OKAY, LISTEN—AS ALMOST FAMOUS’S LESTER BANGS YOU WARNED YOUR PROTEGEE TO NOT SELL OUT AND BE SEDUCED BY WOMEN, GLITZ AND BOOZE. YOU’VE BRILLIANTLY NEGOTIATED THAT SELL-OUT-PHALANX BY JUGGLING BLOCKBUSTERS WITH MANY SMALL, PERSONAL INDIES. BUT, TELL US: HOW HARD HAS HOLLYWOOD TRIED TO GET YOU DRUNK?
Sometimes, just being around Hollywood makes you want to get drunk. (laughs) Like, I was just flying to Italy for Mission Impossible III, completely jet-lagged, and they took me to this angular, sterile, First Class lounge in Frankfurt to change flights. On the desk was this silver tray with the best liquor you could ever imagine. You think, “Okay, I’m alone in my little pristine, First Class room, it’s 7AM—why don’t I get really fucking trashed and destroy the place!” (laughs) Then you realize, “This is where those stories come from—it’s the movie star guy, alone in Frankfurt, who gets really trashed, gets on his flight, and there he is on Page 6 the next day.”

HAVING MISSED THAT OPPORTUNITY, WHICH OF YOUR VICES WOULD PAGE SIX MOST BE INTERESTED IN?
Forget it—I know your work!

JUST SAY “I’VE TOLD THE PUBLIC ENOUGH TODAY.”
Or “Deduce your own answer—whatever you come up with you’ll probably be right.”