Hoffman's Career Is Red-Hot

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The day has been long â€” all that endless questioning and prodding â€” so it's only natural for Philip Seymour Hoffman to get distracted. <br><br>On his last interview of the day,

Wednesday, December 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The day has been long â€” all that endless questioning and prodding â€” so it's only natural for Philip Seymour Hoffman to get distracted.

On his last interview of the day, the stocky character actor interrupts his train of thought to gaze out a hotel window at a midtown building shrouded by scaffolding, its completion date set for Dec. 31, 2001.

``Look at that building! They're going to be building that for another year? My God!'' he says. ``I'm sorry, I don't know why I thought of that. That's a long time.''

It's a testament to Hoffman's red-hot career that 12 months for him stretches for an eternity. And like the building across the street, Hoffman's fame continues to soar ever upward.

``Things have come in clumps lately,'' he says, laughing. ``I've had the opportunity to work on some great films over the past two years and I think that's made the difference.''

The fame, of course, still probably won't put Hoffman's pale, round mug on the cover of glossy magazines. His quiet fame is more the where-have-I-seen-that-guy-before variety.

From the deeply troubled obscene phone caller in ``Happiness,'' to the pathetic porn-set hanger-on in ``Boogie Nights,'' to the tortured drag queen in ``Flawless,'' the squirm factor â€” not the stud factor â€” is high.

``Phil brings a tremendous amount of visceral sensitivity,'' says Clark Gregg, who co-starred with Hoffman in Paul Thomas Anderson's ``Magnolia'' and David Mamet's upcoming ``State and Main.''

``If you saw those roles written on the page, you wouldn't see that character at all,'' Gregg says. ``Phil brings real humanity to roles like that because he lets you in on what they're needing so desperately.''

So keep your Pitts, DiCaprios and Crowes. Scripts are piling up at Hoffman's door at an alarming rate because he offers something few pretty boys can â€” absolute fearlessness.

``There are certain parts that are very painful, I think, to play,'' says Hoffman, between sips of coffee and drags on a cigarette. Exhaustion has left his ruddy hair wild and clumpy.

``You've got to answer some questions about things. And sometimes those things you've got to look at aren't things that normal people really want to go over again. That can be painful,'' he says. ``Most people don't live their lives like that.''

This month, Hoffman sheds much of the painfulness of his previous work to invade pretty boy territory. In ``State and Main,'' a satire on Hollywood moviemaking, he plays the romantic leading man. He even gets the girl.

``It was a great challenge, something new,'' he says. ``It was one of those parts where you don't do much preparation. I just felt like I needed to show up and put myself in those circumstances.''

Hoffman, 33, was raised in Rochester, N.Y., the third of four kids. He was a high-school athlete â€” excelling at baseball and wrestling â€” until a sports injury led him to try out for a school production of ``The Crucible.''

After studying theater at New York University, Hoffman did theater and television, paying the bills as a waiter, swimming pool lifeguard, deli-counter guy and, most unfortunately, as a cashier in one of New York's trendiest restaurants.

``I remember I was a cashier at Indochine once,'' he recalls. ``Got fired from that job in, like, two weeks. I was completely inept at dealing with that cash-register situation.

``That place takes in so much money every night â€” and, at the end of the night, it didn't match. The till did not match the receipts. They got rid of me pretty quick.''

He had better luck in his first breakout role as a smarmy rich kid opposite Al Pacino and Chris O'Donnell in 1992's ``Scent of a Woman.''

``I never thought I'd really make that much money acting in the first place, so I was really more worried about where I was gonna get a chance to act. I know it'll sound very corny of me, but that was how I looked at it: Where would I find an opportunity to act again?''

Soon, he landed roles as a geeky tornado chaser in ``Twister,'' a self-important ex-boyfriend in ``Next Stop Wonderland,'' a giggling servant in ``The Big Lebowski'' and Robin Williams' roommate in ``Patch Adams.''

Then things sped up at a furious pace. He shot ``Flawless'' in New York while also filming in Rome opposite Matt Damon for ``The Talented Mr. Ripley.'' He appeared as an angelic nurse who tends to the terminally ill in ``Magnolia'' and was a rock critic in Cameron Crowe's ``Almost Famous.''

``I take jobs for different reasons, but they're all because they're jobs I want to act in. It's not like a real big plan, like, `Now I'm going to be dark. Now I'm going to be light.' It's just going to be gray,'' he says.

With more high-profile parts, Hoffman says he has struck a bittersweet bargain: Gone is the anonymity he craves, yet also gone is the frustration of missing out on great parts.

``I do feel out of control sometimes, but the options that I have now, the choices I have now, I did want, and I'm grateful for that,'' he says.

``Sometimes it's hard to handle the attention. It doesn't happen all the time â€” I pretty much live the life I've always lived. But sometimes you'll be in situations where there's a lot of attention. And that's just not natural. It's not natural for an individual to get so much attention. You start to feel a little shy and a little overburdened.''

But surely the success at least makes him smile?

``Success isn't what makes you happy,'' he replies. ``It really doesn't. Success is doing what makes you happy and doing good work and hopefully having a fruitful life. If I've felt like I've done good work, that makes me happy. The success part of it is all gravy.''

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On the Net:

``State and Main'': http://www.stateandmain.com/indexâ€”homepage.html