| Philip Seymour Hoffman Wrestles His Inner Devil |
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| Written by Brad Balfour | |
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Page 1 of 2  Philip Seymour Hoffman as Andy in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"   (L to R) Ethan Hawke and Hoffman, and esteemed director Sidney Lumet confer on set  Hoffman won the Oscar for Best Lead Actor in 2005 for his stunning portrayal of Truman Capote  Hoffman as Andy and Ethan Hawke as Hank in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" Equally adept in movies and on stage, the 40-year-old actor and theater director was born in Rochester, New York, hit NYC when he went to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and graduated with a B.F.A. degree in drama in 1989. He made his feature film debut two years later. His breakthrough role in Paul Thomas Anderson's chronicle of LA's porn industry, "Boogie Nights" quickly established him as a mainstay of indie cinema—building up a reputation as one of its ubiquitous character actors by appearing in a host of emerging directors' breakout films. And of course he had the ultimate acting success when he won the Best Lead Actor Academy Award for playing the lead in 2005's "Capote." For this newest role, Hoffman, like the other cast members, jumped at the chance be in iconic NYC director Sidney Lumet's latest film. The master director has had numerous Oscar noms throughout three decades for such films as "The Verdict, "Prince of the City," "Network, "Dog Day Afternoon," and "12 Angry Men" (Lumet's cinematic debut). This dark crime story details two brothers who organize a robbery of their parents' jewelry store; the heist goes horribly wrong, cascading down through a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother's wife crashing towards a tragic climax. thinkfilmcompany.comQ: You were the first one chosen by producer Michael Cerenzie to be in this film, and then when he sat down with Sidney Lumet, you were his first choice as well. Were you aware of that? PSH: I had been approached with this script through another director a few years before, but that just didn't happen and I didn't do it. It was somewhat of a different version of this script. Then it came back to me with Sidney [attached] and he changed it a little bit, but not alot, but it's very much the script I read. Q: He made you and [Ethan Hawke] brothers, but originally you were just going to be friends. PSH: They were friends and now they are brothers which is very important. And Sidney said what brother did you want to play? I chose Andy, and then everyone else came on board. Q: Marisa Tomei [who plays Gina, Andy's wife] spoke about these characters being past their prime--if you took these characters five years forward from this film's timeline, where would you see them? PSH: Are they past their prime; I don't think they had a prime [laughs]... Actually the question is did I think there was a time when they had options that were real; [did they have] promise? Yes, I think the relationship between Andy and Gina was a good one at one time. They were in love with each other. I think he was a very successful guy. He was moving up in the business world. Hank was probably very affable and got married and thought he could [make something of himself]. There was that time. I don't think their childhoods were very good; I get a feeling they had good parents who didn't give them much attention. Andy was really the kid they thought wouldn't amount to much of anything so he amounted to everything. I don't know if they had a prime; they had promise that led to a life they did not want to be in anymore and that's where the movie picks up. Q: You've played bad guys before that were pretty despicable but Andy doesn't have many saving graces. Was that what appealed to you about this character? PSH: Well... bad guys? I don't think I play a lot of bad guys. Q: What about your character in "Mission Impossible 3" [Hoffman played the villain Owen Davian]? PSH: Well that was "Mission Impossible" but bad guys... I don't know about bad guys.. Q: Okay, then people with questionable morals... PSH: I think everybody has questionable morals, look at this table. [laughs] If that's what you are looking at in a film then we have different tastes in movies because I think everyone should be questionable and every character you should play should be questioned; although this character is more extreme than most; this character is not somebody who is redeemable or forgivable by the end at all. But I would not say that these are the characters that I play very often. Q: Was that appealing? PSH: The story is appealing. It's an old story, a story that's been around since everything else has existed, the story of Cain and Abel. It's the story of trying to extricate yourself from your family and your family ultimately bringing you down. What happens at the end of this movie, is something that reverberates through drama forever. That's the one thing that attracted me the most was that last action [at the end of the film.] I thought "God I'll never read a film that has that action in it again." I'll have to go back and read old Greek dramas or Shakespeare to see that action being taken. It's so powerful; so upsetting in such a profound way. It's very gutsy for a film to want to do that. Q: Did you bring in your own ideas and how much leeway did Sidney give you to develop your character? PSH: We developed him together. He thinks like an actor--well, obviously he thinks like a director first--but he also has a head like an actor. He's very good with the questions he asks. His questions are very intelligent and sharp so he's helping you. He's asking the right questions... if he's sees you're confused he knows what to say to get you on right page; any notes or questions coming from him you can decipher them quickly. Q: Did you work extensively on Andy's back story? PSH: Only to the extent that I needed to. There was only a few things I needed to think about. What was Gina and Andy's relationship like before? How long had they been together? [I figured] they had been together for a while... probably since their early or mid '20s. I always had this idea that she worked for him; she was a secretary in his office and they started to have an affair--it was kind of a hot affair. It had lot of risk to it and it led toward a real love affair and was serious but also very exciting and a very satisfying one when they were young. The other thing was his relationship to his family. Obviously he was a dark horse as a kid, they did not think that he would amount to anything but he did. So you have to see that his feelings about his brother, sister, mother, and father were much more complicated than Hank's. |