Philip Hoffman
Philip Hoffman
competence confidence happen humor top
These things happen from the top down, and from the top there was a sense of humor and a confidence and competence that you don't question.
dealing heard people
That's always what I heard about people dealing with Capote,
hardest last mimic
The last thing I wanted to do was mimic him. I wanted to get his essence. It was the hardest thing I ever did on film.
abandoned alongside beginning books both capote grabbed great huge impression incredibly inevitable intimacy kansas learned leave literally men met minute open paid perry price psyche reached sees shared sprung tragic trap ultimately york
If you have that kind of intimacy alongside ambition, ultimately it's going to leave an incredibly tragic impression on his psyche and spirit. He paid a huge price to write one of the great books of the 20th century. Capote didn't go to Kansas. Kansas reached out to New York and grabbed Capote. The minute he met Perry Smith, it was inevitable that these two men were going to die, one literally and one figuratively, because the identification they shared was too deep. The minute he got Perry to open up about his own life, and he learned they were both orphans, they were both abandoned children, he sees his muse, and that's the beginning of the end. Kansas sprung a trap on him.
below fly guy level sort strange
I like to fly below the radar, ... And here is this guy who is completely open, completely bold, who has this very strange sort of machismo.... So I had to find a different entry, a different level to find him.
attention character critical happy next point
He would probably be up here right next to me. I would say he would probably be critical because that was his life. And he'd probably point out all the things that were wrong, but he would also be happy that attention was being showered on him again. I think that was one of his character flaws.
ambition care exhausting relax scene
His ambition and his agenda. There was a kind of a ruthlessness, a driven-desire thing that was just exhausting for me to play. You could never kind of relax into a scene and just not care about what you wanted. He was always on point. He was driven.
influenced knew separated struggle trying
I knew everything he did (physically) influenced how he behaved. They couldn't be separated from each other. That was the struggle (for me), trying to get them together.
brought deserves four kids
If you see her, congratulate her. She brought up four kids alone, and she deserves your congratulations.
ball begins best dies events guy happens knew outside shine standing tale telling
As a producer, as someone standing outside the film, we knew that the story wasn't going to shine (Capote) in the best of lights. What happens to him, and it's not pleasant, begins his downfall. This guy dies at 59, without writing another (long-form) book. So that's the story. We're just telling the tale of the events that got that ball rolling.
gets nerve producer seen wearing
As an actor, it's nerve racking. But when I'm wearing my producer hat, I think, 'Hey, this is great. If the film gets nominated, it will be seen by way more people.'
committed deep terms works
That's why the film works so well. You really have this sense that he's the one who committed the crime, and I think deep down inside, that's how he felt, too. That's something he could never come to terms with.
character embody hard hard-work magical months playing practice stuff technical
That technical stuff is really practice. It's not some magical thing. It's hard work, like an athlete, in a way. You just have to practice how to embody this character. If I'm playing a character who isn't like I am, it can take months and months.
basically came daunting fit girlfriend house offered pregnant size suits time trip weighed whales
It was a daunting thing, when they came to my house and offered me the role. I weighed 240 pounds. At the time, my girlfriend was pregnant and we basically were beached whales together. And it was a long trip over time to get to a size that I could fit into these suits that he wore.