Top 157 Quotes & Sayings by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
Life's pretty funny when you're objectively on the outside looking at it.
The foibles of my body are pretty much out there in the work I do.
I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden they're beautiful and famous and rich. I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'd be dead.'
Creating anything is hard.
Sometimes I have a great day of filming and sometimes the theater strikes me better. It just depends.
One person's religion is another person's cult.
When you're playing someone who really lived, you carry a burden, a burden to be accurate. But it's one that you have to let go of ultimately.
It's important to say that actors can't act alone, it's impossible. What we have to do is support each other.
I think I'm less anonymous than I was.
My ideal weight is 205, actually.
My girlfriend's a costume designer in the theater.
I think therapy is a helpful thing. I think everyone knows it. You do it for your life, you do it for yourself, because you want to explore some things, and get at the bottom of some things. It's about your life, the quality of your life.
I didn't really buy LPs or go to concerts.
I've worked with a lot of characters that are unhinged. I've played characters that are unhinged. That's, like, my job.
Well, in the theater, I think you're actually more responsible for what is going on onstage as a director than you are in film.
My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise.
I've never been on a cruise.
The weight comes off, you know? If you stop with the bread and the pie, it really does. It really works.
Actors are investigators.
Being unemployed is not good for an actor. No, it isn't, no matter how unsuccessful you are. Because you always remember getting fired from all the restaurants. You remember that stuff very, very strongly.
Films are always a fiction, not documentary. Even a documentary is a kind of fiction.
If I don't feel like I'm doing the job well, and I don't know how to get there, or I'm too scared, or whatever, I'm not a happy guy and I'm not pleasant. I'm not pleasant to be around.
The idea that you have a vision of what you're supposed to be, or going to be, or where your kids are going to be - and that that doesn't work out - is always going to be something that's going to affect people and move people.
Actors are responsible to the people we play.
If you're a human being walking the earth, you're weird, you're strange, you're psychologically challenged.
I know I wasn't as handsome as some other guys, but I was OK with that.
I didn't go out looking for negative characters; I went out looking for people who have a struggle and a fight to tackle. That's what interests me.
I work constantly but I work at a lot of different things. You know, I run a theater company in New York, I direct plays, act in plays, in movies, so I try to keep it eclectic.
I have a fine level of recognition in the business and among the acting community now, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If I didn't think that, there would be something wrong with me. I'm grateful and thankful for what I've got.
I think part of being an actor is staying private.
People actually live with their id exposed. They're not good at concealing what's going on inside.
The size of my head though is pretty abnormal.
Directing is a really kind of amazing thing, because you're helping others and, in the middle of that, you have to worry about yourself.
The drama nerd comes out in me when I'm in a theater.
If I was a little bit younger I would worry more. I'd want to do one thing at a time but now I try to do a bunch of different things at a time if I can.
Yeah, writers do hate writing.
I don't have a specific thing I want anyone to get out of anything I do.
I like to come to the set with very strong ideas and strong opinions about how to do things. And I like also dealing with somebody who's like that.
I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft.
You know the circus performer who spins the plates in the air you know, and he'll spin six or seven plates in the air? Acting sometimes is kind of that guy spinning all those plates in the air but in your head and in your body.
When people don't know who you are, they're seeing your work for the first time. But if they've seen a lot, getting certain things across is a more difficult.
The ambition, the drive, the wanting to be the center of attention, the wanting to succeed... They're all inside me somewhere.
To act well isn't an easy thing.
Creating something is all about problem-solving.
There are a lot of things going on with my life right now that don't just have to do with career. So I have a hard time making decisions about work. That's really a luxury problem.
I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.
I don't get nervous when I'm directing a play. It's not like acting.
Film's hard when you don't have any relationship with the director at all and you just show up. Then you really are just a gun for hire.
Well, I think everyone struggles with self-love.
I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.
I had insecurities and fears like everybody does, and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things.
I like so many different kinds of music just because all I did was listen to the radio as a kid.
In life, do you ever really know if you're missing an opportunity? No, you really don't.
When you have a child, as anyone knows who has them, that's basically all you want to talk about.
My mum is incredibly intelligent.
The film is made in the editing room. The shooting of the film is about shopping, almost. It's like going to get all the ingredients together, and you've got to make sure before you leave the store that you got all the ingredients. And then you take those ingredients and you can make a good cake - or not.
There are characters in movies who I call 'film characters.' They don't exist in real life. They exist to play out a scenario. They can be in fantastic films, but they are not real characters; what happens to them is not lifelike.
To be fair to my dad, he is one of the brightest men I've ever met.
Sometimes I'm uncomfortable with the level of fame I've got! It all depends on the day and what's going on. I don't desire any more fame. I don't need it.
In film, you have to let go sometimes.
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