February 01st, 2014

I am so sad to hear of the loss of an acting great.  Rest In Peace, Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

As actors, we are absolute basket-cases.  I like to think of us as emotional ticking time-bombs, ready to jump into an entirely different character at a moment's notice, ready to fight, be almost dizzily happy, or sobbing at the drop of a hat.  With having to be so emotionally responsive on a constant basis, it's easy to see how it could be easy for it to get out of control, especially when you've "made it" and have no one to tell you "no" and keep you centered.  What a brilliant, gifted, and talented human being.  Calling his death "tragic" doesn't seem to cover it.

"To have that concentration to act well is like lugging things up staircases in your brain. I think that's a thing people don't understand. It is that exhausting. If you're doing it well, if you're concentrating the way you need to, if your will and your concentration and emotional and imagination and emotional life are all in tune, concentrated and working together in that role, that is just like lugging weights upstairs with your head..And I don't think that should get any easier." - Phillip Seymour Hoffman