The movie Philip Seymour Hoffman loved being asked about: “That’s satisfying”
A decade later, the entertainment industry is still reeling from the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor renowned for his range and personability, and of all the famous roles that he is remembered for, there was one smaller film in particular that he was most delighted to discuss.
It’s hard to think of a contemporary actor whose filmography is as diverse and impressive as that of Hoffman, who has appeared in dozens of classics throughout his all too short career. While he became an Academy Award winner with Capote and has appeared in many massive commercial hits, he cut his teeth making smaller films that often fell under the radar.
The actor took pleasure in working on independent and arthouse projects that allowed him to pursue his artistic goals. Sure being in a micro-budget passion project rarely generated him the same audience reception as a blockbuster like The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, however, he admitted to being most impressed when fans would approach him about Owning Mahowny, a gambling drama based on the haunting true story of Brian Molony.
During an interview with the AVClub, he revealed that since he was frequently asked about his work playing the ruthless arms dealer Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III, which saw him reuniting with Tom Cruise for the first time since Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, he assumed that his fans had looked past a comparatively less successful project like Owning Mahowny, but was surprised to learn that it had also developed a following.
“That’s satisfying, because then you’re affirmed about films you make that you might be proud of, that you think people aren’t seeing, or that a certain kind of people aren’t seeing,” Hoffman told the publication, “It turns out that they are. It does have impact, and it does have this effect; it does live on.”
The man wasn’t entirely off base in assuming that the film had been forgotten by the general public, as it’s easily one of the darkest roles he’s ever played. Notwithstanding that he’s popped up in his Todd Solondz’s Happiness and his fair share of thrillers, such as Red Dragon and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, it was Owning Mahowny that allowed him to play a self-destructive gambler whose crimes involved the embezzlement of over $10million from a Toronto bank.
It’s a credit to Hoffman’s brilliance that the film was a difficult viewing experience, as it depicted gambling addiction in an uncomfortably realistic way than older films about the same subject had ever done before. If some of the classics of the 1970s suggested there was some glamour and exhilaration to be found at the edge of a casino table, Owning Mahowny asserted that those determined to risk it all were doomed to end up embittered and alone.
Getting to make a film about such an important topic may have been satisfying in its own right, but Owning Mahowny is the type of project that would only have an impact if it remained in the public consciousness, and for Hoffman, the notion that it was remembered, even in small pockets, was an empowering experience, noting, “In those moments, I get affirmed, these things don’t go out into the abyss of darkness, never to be seen again”.
Given that his life was sadly cut short in the prime of his career, there’s no question that he could have had many more potential classics to add to his roster. However, the breadth and depth of Hoffman’s impressive list of credits also mean that underrated gems like Owning Mahowny are ripe to be rediscovered for generations to come.
