Dan Epstein: Spike Lee mentioned that you and Anna [Paquin] have a rapport because you directed her in a play. How did that help you out?
Philip Seymour Hoffman: In The 25th Hour she played someone who had all the power over me. It was a comeuppance. It was really great. Working with Anna on the play then acting with her was like seeing something through fruition.
DE: Philip when you play these characters that are so odd do you have to come up with a way to sympathize with them?
PSH: I do. With this I sympathize with him totally. I don't think this guy is crazy. He has no interest in sleeping with underage girls at all. I think this is an obsession he has with one specific girl for specific reasons that all evaporates very quickly. I didn't want to justify it and I definitely didn't want to tell a dirty old man story.
She stands for everything that he will never be and never was. She's got the tattoo, the belly button ring, she's very open with her sexuality and she's very confident. None of those girls were ever attracted to him. It plays on his insecurities. He's more disturbed by his attraction to this 17 year old girl than everyone is. His two friends are just like, get over it. But it's not only about that. It's about him coming to terms with something else. He's created a prison of fear in his life. When he kisses her he immediately realizes it's not what he expected and that it's wrong.
DE: When Edward Norton's character gives you the dog, what did that mean to you?
PSH: It's Monty giving him a piece of himself and Monty also taking a piece for himself. There's an admiration between the two characters because each wants what the other has in a weird way. It's a gift.
DE: What was it like doing that dialogue scene with Ground Zero right outside the window?
PSH: It wasn't in the script. I thought it was incredibly grounding to the reality of the film. I live in NYC and was here when it all happened. It just personalizes it for the audience and me.
DE: Was that something you were willing to do?
PSH: I was completely willing to do it and I was glad to. It's great that Spike did that. It says a lot about him and his relationship with city.
DE: As a character actor you've worked with a couple of directors more than once and with P.T. Anderson on all his films. Do you feel comfortable that there is like a net there for you?
PSH: I think I'm like any actor. Most actors it's just inbred in you that you'll never work again even if you're working a lot. That's just the way it is. You spend so much time before you're working regularly just to get work and feeling like no one will ever hire you. Also the fickleness of this business is that everyone wants people to go down and then they go back up and then down again.
So I never feel like I have work coming except with it comes to Paul [Thomas Anderson]. But right now if Paul never used me again in a film for the rest of his life it wouldn't matter because we're so close. He doesn't owe me anything.
Philip Seymour Hoffman: In The 25th Hour she played someone who had all the power over me. It was a comeuppance. It was really great. Working with Anna on the play then acting with her was like seeing something through fruition.
DE: Philip when you play these characters that are so odd do you have to come up with a way to sympathize with them?
PSH: I do. With this I sympathize with him totally. I don't think this guy is crazy. He has no interest in sleeping with underage girls at all. I think this is an obsession he has with one specific girl for specific reasons that all evaporates very quickly. I didn't want to justify it and I definitely didn't want to tell a dirty old man story.
She stands for everything that he will never be and never was. She's got the tattoo, the belly button ring, she's very open with her sexuality and she's very confident. None of those girls were ever attracted to him. It plays on his insecurities. He's more disturbed by his attraction to this 17 year old girl than everyone is. His two friends are just like, get over it. But it's not only about that. It's about him coming to terms with something else. He's created a prison of fear in his life. When he kisses her he immediately realizes it's not what he expected and that it's wrong.
DE: When Edward Norton's character gives you the dog, what did that mean to you?
PSH: It's Monty giving him a piece of himself and Monty also taking a piece for himself. There's an admiration between the two characters because each wants what the other has in a weird way. It's a gift.
DE: What was it like doing that dialogue scene with Ground Zero right outside the window?
PSH: It wasn't in the script. I thought it was incredibly grounding to the reality of the film. I live in NYC and was here when it all happened. It just personalizes it for the audience and me.
DE: Was that something you were willing to do?
PSH: I was completely willing to do it and I was glad to. It's great that Spike did that. It says a lot about him and his relationship with city.
DE: As a character actor you've worked with a couple of directors more than once and with P.T. Anderson on all his films. Do you feel comfortable that there is like a net there for you?
PSH: I think I'm like any actor. Most actors it's just inbred in you that you'll never work again even if you're working a lot. That's just the way it is. You spend so much time before you're working regularly just to get work and feeling like no one will ever hire you. Also the fickleness of this business is that everyone wants people to go down and then they go back up and then down again.
So I never feel like I have work coming except with it comes to Paul [Thomas Anderson]. But right now if Paul never used me again in a film for the rest of his life it wouldn't matter because we're so close. He doesn't owe me anything.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
lotuspoet:
I love Phillip!! 
prockgirlscout:
Good bump. Never knew this was here. 25th Hour is easily one of my top 5 favorites.