Oven Dried Tomatoes

He was an every man. He was not by any means your typical Hollywood star in looks or in the roles he chose to play on the big screen. He was one of my favorite actors. Actually right now I cannot think of anyone who comes even close. Hoffman played many supporting characters and some leading roles and he owned every one of them. Even in shitty movies, he was great and brought humanity to his characters enough to make you care or chuckle. I remember him first as the journalist Lester Bangs from Rolling Stone in Almost Famous and his memorable line to the young William Miller”…I met you, you are not cool”. Hoffman was cool and was not. He played roles that made us care about those undesirable and sometimes repulsive people in our society and he played them so so well, like the “perv” phone breather in Todd Solondz’s Happiness. I think that’s a great movie, but I mostly remember him.
True, Hoffman played several leading roles and won an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of Capote, but to me his most memorable role is Scotty J. in P.T. Anderson’s Boogie Nights. It’s a small role in a film that is over 2.5 hours long spanning decades but that one scene when Scotty is making his pass/confession at Dirk Diggler is one of the best, heartbreaking and pathetic all at the same time.
Philip Seymour Hoffman was not one of the best actors of my generation. He was the best actor of my generation and will be sorely missed.