philip seymour hoffman

Today in Sundance Hell: Remembering ‘Sex,’ And Philip Seymour Hoffman Phones It In

3:11AM STV | Greetings from Park City, where Defamer today launches its journey into the heart of hype, underdogs and testicle-shrinking cold. More on that a little later, but for now, we’re thawing out with the latest headlines: More »

Philip Seymour Hoffman Awfully Defensive About His ‘Doubt’ Priest’s Extracurricular Choirboy Activities

3:11AM Seth | Here’s a couple lessons for all you rookie reporters assigned to cover the Hollywood beat: 1. Make sure your “SHOWBIZ PRESS” pass is always facing outward in the band of your fedora. 2. Place a decoy in that nearby row of telephone booths—that way you can call your scoop into the paper the second it happens. 3. Never, under any circumstance, ask Philip Seymour Hoffman for insights regarding the true nature of the possible child-molesting priest character he plays in Doubt.

4:56AM Kyle Buchanan | Whoa: The opening night film at the Sundance Film Festival is typically regarded as pedestrian fare, so we had little hope for this year’s selection. Then, this morning, programmers announced the 2009 pick: Mary and Max, a claymation movie starring Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman, narrated by Dame Edna. We could only be more excited if Hoffman’s wrinkly avatar somehow resembles Omar from The Wire. [Sundance] More »

4:58AM Kyle Buchanan | Double Happiness: When you look at this picture of Philip Seymour Hoffman, what do you see? Wait, what? That’s Omar from The Wire? C’mon, kids — where’s your inner film cineaste? If you had the imagination of Todd Solondz, you’d take Omar’s portrayer, Michael K. Williams, and cast him in your new Happiness sequel to play the exact same obscene caller Hoffman essayed in the first film. indieWIRE’s Peter Knegt was the first to look at the sequel’s full synopsis and notice that every character from the first film is returning after a wild, Palindromes-style recast. Paul Reubens is Jon Lovitz. Ciarin Hinds is Dylan Baker. Sadly, Paris Hilton is not Camryn Manheim. [indieWIRE] More »

Javier, Philip, and Jake Are Fortified With 8 Essential Vitamins And Iron

4:35AM Seth | You may recall that about six months ago, we posted a Photoshop contest winning entry featuring the inspired casting of Javier Bardem as everyone’s favourite Prince of Dark Chocolateyness, Count Chocula. We said at the time that we’d definitely shell out for such a movie were it ever to be made, and threw out the suggestion of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jake Gyllenhaal to play his monstrous kiddie cereal cohorts, Frankenberry and Boo Berry. More »

Why Not to Miss ‘Synecdoche, New York,’ The Best Film of 2008

7:10AM STV | Charlie Kaufman’s directing debut Synecdoche, New York is the most inaccessible, challenging, infuriating, stupefying, heartbreaking film of 2008. It’s also the best American movie we’ve seen this year, and as noted here this morning, it’s required viewing this weekend for anyone who wants to be on our good side. Or history’s good side, for that matter — and here are five reasons why. More »

2:00AM STV | Doubt to Open AFI Fest: The Oscar-bait shuffle that is AFI Fest’s opening night settled down late Thursday when organisers announced Doubt as its Oct. 30 replacement for The Soloist. It will be the Meryl Streep/Philip Seymour Hoffman drama’s world premiere following a quiet test screening this summer and a private screening last night for its original Broadway cast and select press. Among them evidently was Tom O’Neil, to whom Scott Rudin expressed nervousness about sharing Doubt on the AFI stage still relatively early in Oscar season (the film opens small Dec. 12). And really, with one horse already down and only one other left in the race after this, can you blame him? OK, fine — so can we. Zip it, Rudin. [Gold Derby] More »

Philip Seymour Hoffman on ‘Batman’ Rumors: Why So Erroneous?

8:55AM Defamer Hollywood | In recent weeks, rumours that Philip Seymour Hoffman would play the Penguin in the next Batman installment have become so widespread that even Michael Caine began to repeat them as fact (claiming that he first read of them in a newspaper, then confirmed the rumours with a WB executive). However, if Hoffman is soon to don a monocle and top hat, this is the first he’s heard of it (and he’s totally going to miss his call time). Speaking to MTV News at the Toronto Film Festival, Hoffman said that much like a persistent archvillain, the Penguin rumour is one that reappears to torment him every few years: More »

Today in Cannes Hell: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Breast, Critic Riots and a Word with Charlie Kaufman

8:50AM Defamer Hollywood | With the minor exception of missing out on Jim Toback’s documentary on Mike Tyson (which will screen here this fall anyway — we can wait), the only regret we have so far about sitting out the Cannes Film Festival is our absence at the mini-riot that preceded the press screening of director James Gray’s drama Two Lovers, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow. That’s when we’re at our best, as were Lou Lumenick and the “major U.S. film critic” (*cough* Manohla Dargis *cough*) who apparently exclaimed, “I’m not going to wait an hour for f—-ing James Gray” before an ensuing screening delay, shoving match and seating free-for-all. Like his resilient cousins in the roach family, Roger Friedman naturally outlasted the meltdown and later delivered his sterling, tasteful review, “Gwyneth Paltrow Bares a Breast in Film”: You don’t really think of Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow as the racy type. But in her new film, Two Lovers, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival Monday night, she quite surprisingly bares a single breast. The shot is, shall we say, head-on into the camera. And it’s for more than a couple of seconds. This is no wardrobe malfunction. It’s on purpose. (To paraphrase a great Seinfeld quote: “They’re real … and they’re spectacular!”) More »