Phillip Seymour Hoffman

My mom asked me whether he was married.  I didn't know.  My mind suddenly thought:  wait, is Phillip Seymour Hoffman gay?  I was of course thinking of Boogie Nights and one of the most awkwardly painful, cringe-worthy, scenes I've ever seen when PSH shows Mark Wahlberg his new car.

"I'm an idiot.  I'm a fucking idiot....I'm a fucking idiot...fucking idiot...fucking idiot..."

So I looked it up.  He had a partner.  3 kids.  So I realized:  the guy was THAT good...that my memory of his performance in a single scene caused me to question his sexual identity in real life.  Michael Douglas, Heath Ledger, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, all these guys have played gay in movies and never once did it transcend acting.  PSH did it in one frigging scene.

I like to remember movie people by three movies...Hoffman was an actor, not a movie star, not a producer, not a creative force behind his projects.  Here's my memory of him:

Dicky Greenleaf in the Talented Mr. Ripley
Scottie in Boogie Nights
Gust Avrakotos in Charlie Wilson's War