Philip Seymour Hoffman Movies: Which Was His Finest Role?

When considering Philip Seymour Hoffman’s movies of the past 25 years, it’s difficult to envisage an actor working anywhere else on the planet who inhabits a character as well as the man from Fairport, New York did. As news of Hoffman’s untimely death – from a reported drug overdose – filtered through on Sunday, fans, journalists and friends dubbed the late great Hoffman the best character actor of his generation. The 46-year-old was rivalled only by Daniel Day-Lewis and perhaps Sean Penn in terms of the greatest actors currently working in the business, though unlike his multi-Oscar winning contemporaries, Hoffman was unconcerned with taking only lead roles and effectively wrote the book on the art of the perfect supporting performance.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), director: Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet's final feature film before his death in 2011 will remain one of the French director's finest and most cerebral efforts. Hoffman starred as Andy Hanson, a drug addicted finance executive who is facing a company wide audit that will reveal his embezzling from his employer. Believing that he cannot be extradited if he makes it to Brazil, Andy enlists his brother Hank (Hawke) to raise funds by robbing their parent's jewellery store. Meanwhile, Hank continues his long-standing affair with Andy's wife, Gina. Played by Marisa Tomei.

Mary & Max (2009), director: Adam Elliot

Philip Seymour Hoffman's movies were rarely as touching as Adam Elliot's tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals, Mary & Max. He voiced the forty-four-year-old obese man living in New York, who kept in regular contact with a lonely eight-year-old girl (Toni Collette) living in the suburbs of Melbourne.

This clay-animated masterpiece dealt with several issues that have arguably become more pertinent since Hoffman's untimely death, most notably, loneliness, depression, anxiety and the obscurity of life.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007), director: Mike Nichols

Working from Aaron Sorkin's script, Hoffman turned in one of his most accomplished performances in Mike Nichols's biographical-drama film about the true story of congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) who partnered with a CIA operative to launch a program to support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Hoffman's turn as the maverick CIA agent Gust Avrakotos was, arguably, crucial to this movie working and the Academy duly nominated him for best supporting actor in 2008. The movie received no other Oscar nods.

Moneyball (2011), director: Bennett Miller

Again working from a Sorkin script, Philip Seymour Hoffman turned in a truly remarkable performance as Oakland Atheltics manager Art Howe in Bennett Miller's adaptation of Michael Lewis's classic 2003 book. With Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) keen to implement his statistical, analytical selection process, tensions rise between himself and Hoffman's Howe and the latter chooses traditional team selection despite his player's unsuitability. Howe was perhaps portrayed unfairly, but the script intended him to come across as an unresonable character Hoffman made his character genuinley unlikeable, providing the perfect platform for one of Pitt's finest perfomances in years.

A Late Quartet (2012), director: Yaron Zilberman

If any of Philip Seymour Hoffman's movies are to remain relatively undiscovered, it will be Yaron Zilberman's A Late Quartet. Made on a shoestring budget, this beautifully acted movie follows a renowned New York Fugue String quartet approaching its 25th anniversary. A debilitating illness to its cellist (Christopher Walken) forces the members to re-evaluate their relationships and when Hoffman's second violinist character Robert voices his desire to alternate the role of first violinist, tensions begin to run high. A hugely impressive cast on paper - Mark Ivanir, Catherine Keener, Imogen Poots - delivers what was one of the cinematic highlights of 2012.

_Next page: Philip Seymour Hoffman movies list: 1-5.

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Synecdoche, New York (2008) director: Charlie Kaufman

In Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Philip Seymour Hoffman played an ailing theater director whose stage production becomes increasingly elaborate, eventually blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. This post-modernist work predictably drew praise from critics though failed to recoup its $20 million budget - nevertheless, it remains of one Hoffman's most enduring performances. Sure we could discuss the various motifs at work here, not least the Jungian psychology and theory of Synecdoche, New York effectively being a play without a play, though it's probably best to remember this insane piece of cinema as Roger Ebert's finest movie of the decade.

Capote (2005) director: Bennett Miller

Before Moneyball came Philip Seymour Hoffman's first collaboration with Bennett Miller - whose only previous directing credit with a 1998 documentary about a New York city bus tour guide. Neverthless, his movie about writer Truman Capote and the events after his writing of In Cold Blood stunned movie audiences around the world of Hoffman was the runaway winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor after also scooping a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild and Satellite Award. It is the movie role that Hoffman will perhaps be best remembered.

The Master (2012) director: Paul Thomas Anderson

It was one of the strangest and yet most beautiful movies of 2012. Paul Thomas Anderson's awesome The Master starred Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodd, the leader of a religious movement who takes in a young drifter named Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix). Whether it concerned the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard became largely irrelevant, given the power and performances of The Master. Shot in stunning 65mm film stock, it was released to critical acclaim and Hoffman scored an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

If, for some bizarre reason, you're unconvinced by Hoffman's talent for acting then simply fire up The Master and wait for the scene in which a sceptical naysayer doubts Dodd's methods, calling them cultish and ridiculous. It prompts a riposte from the leader who begins to slowly unravel before losing control and instantly regretting it.

Almost Famous (2000) director: Cameron Crowe

While Philip Seymour Hoffman's movies have influenced new genrations of actors, he probably also encouraged a fair few amateur music journalists to persue the life of a scribe. In Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical movie, Hoffman plays the legendary rock journalist Lester Bangs, who takes an aspiring writer under his wing, giving him a $35 assignment to review a Black Sabbath concert. Bangs effectively invented a new style of rock music criticism during his years at Rolling Stone magazine and Creem, famously getting published in the former after sending in a hugely negative review of the MC5's Kick out the Jams and requesting a letter of explanation should it not make it into print.

Hoffman got the root of Bangs' lifestyle as a maverick critic and ultimately stole the movie in one scene, advising his young protégé about the pitfalls ahead. "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool," he said.

Doubt (2008) director: John Patrick Shanley

In arguably Philip Seymour Hoffman's most underrated movie role, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt provided the New Yorker with a platform to flex his acting muscles with precisely the write material and co-stars. Wrapped up in paranoia and suspicion, Doubt is effectively a masterclass of acting from not only Hoffman, but the unrivalled Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Viola Davis.

Based on Shanley's Pulitzer Prize winning stage play, it concerned the principal of a Catholic school (Streep), beginning to have suspicions about a priest's (Hoffman) relationship with a troubled young student.

The film's four main actors received critical acclaim and all of them were nominated for Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards. However, the power of Doubt relied heavily on Hoffman's ability to remain unreadable and audiences were left unable to make up their mind in the movie's dramatic concluding moments.