The Wall Street Journal posted a report today that Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment this Sunday morning. The New York Post also reported the news. Hoffman’s big breakout role was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s BOOGIE NIGHTS in 1997, and he’s since starred in movies like THE BIG LEBOWSKI, MAGNOLIA, ALMOST FAMOUS, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, MONEYBALL, THE MASTER, and most recently THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in CAPOTE (2005). He was supposed to be prepping his second directorial effort EZEKIEL MOSS in which Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams were set to star. He was also an accomplished theater actor in New York City.
According to reports, screenwriter David Katz found Hoffman in his fourth floor New York City apartment in the Pickwick House around 11:15am. Katz was said to have found him in the bathroom with a hypodermic needle still in his arm, and that he died of an apparent heroin overdose. Hoffman evidently had problems with drug addiction at a young age and was relapsing, even going to treatment for drug addiction as recently as 2013.
Reports noted Mr. Hoffman was last seen on Saturday around 8pm, and was supposed to pick up his children Sunday morning. Mr. Katz and a friend went to check on him when he didn’t show, and called 911 upon discovering him unresponsive. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene. The New York Police Department is said to be investigating, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is working to determine the exact cause of death. Hoffman was 46-yeas-old.
This obviously comes as a great shock to many, and a sad instance of a truly talented man being taken from us far too soon. Hoffman was excellent and memorable in so many roles. I thought certain he’s win his second Oscar for his work in THE MASTER. It will also be interesting to see how Lionsgate deals with Hoffman’s death considering his role in THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Part 1 and Part 2. Our sincere sympathies to his family and friends at this tragic time.