Hoffman’s unexpected fame

last updated 8 January 2015

Philip Seymour Hoffman is a reluctant star, says James Mottram in the London Independent. The 41-year-old actor insists that he never wanted to be a household name. “I’m sure there’s a group of actors that want to be movie stars. But there’s a whole bunch of us that got into acting because we went to our regional theaters and saw All My Sons. That’s what I thought was going to be my life. I had no idea I was going to be on screen.” But after Hoffman hit it big in such films as Scent of a Woman and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the die was cast. “All of a sudden somebody stares at you in a restaurant and you think they don’t like you or they want to fight you or you know them and you forgot their name. Then you realize they saw your movie and they know you. And that’s shocking. It’s like losing your left arm.” Hoffman’s most traumatic moment came two years ago, when he won an Oscar for the title role of Capote. “Getting up in front of 100 million people … you can’t imagine the fear! It’s fear like I never thought. You don’t get up there in joy. You get up there in absolute terror: ‘I’m going to say something really stupid and everyone in the world will hear it.’ You can’t get over that thought.”