Sam Rockwell reveals who he thinks was one of the best actors of all time: “He had that emotional power”
A Best Supporting Actor winner in 2018, Rockwell has high praise for a fellow Oscar recipient he describes as “THE guy”.
Sam Rockwell has spoken of his regret that he never acted alongside fellow Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, who would have turned 58 on Wednesday.
“He was THE guy”
“I had two opportunities, maybe three, and they were squandered,” Rockwell told a recent interview with the movie critic Josh Horowitz. The 56-year-old said he has been left “kicking” himself over these missed chances.
“We were very close,” Rockwell said. “We were good friends and he directed me [in the 2005 stage play The Last Days of Judas Iscariot]. He was just one of the guys - he was THE guy.”
Rockwell continued: “There was so much work ahead of him. He was a young guy, and he was special.
“He had that emotional power, is what my teacher used to call it. Emotional power. He also was transformational: He could be a baseball coach, he could be Truman Capote…"
Describing Hoffman as “chameleon-like”, Rockwell added: “It’s the true merit of an actor […]. Can you transform, do you have that emotional power?”
“A real mentor”
After winning Best Supporting Actor at the 2018 Academy Awards, Rockwell gave a memorable shout-out to his late friend, telling the audience at L.A.’s Dolby Theatre: “This is for my old buddy, Phil Hoffman.”
Two years earlier, in an appearance on Bravo’s What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Rockwell described Hoffman as “a real mentor, even though we’re around the same age”.
Recalling his experience of being directed by Hoffman, Rockwell added: “He was a great theater director because he was also a great stage actor, so you knew he could talk the talk but he could also walk the walk.”
“Sheer undeniable brilliance”
Hoffman, who scooped Best Actor for his portrayal of the American novelist Truman Capote in the 2005 biographical drama Capote, died of a drug overdose in February 2014, at the age of 46.
Aside from his Oscar-winning turn in Capote, the New York native is also best known for films such as Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Doubt (2008) and The Master (2012).
In January this year, the newspaper The Independent ranked Hoffman at No. 1 in its list of the 21st century’s greatest film actors.
“It’s a testament to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s sheer undeniable brilliance that this pick for the top spot almost feels too obvious,” wrote the Independent critic Louis Chilton.
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