Has PTA said anything about his death yet?

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather. Mine died a couple years ago, five months after one of his daughters (my Mom) died. Couple that with losing a very close friend the year before and yeah, death sucks. Eventually the pain becomes less acute though.

As for Philip Seymour Hoffman, I loved his acting ever since I watched him in Scent of a Woman. I had seen him in a couple films before that, Twister among them, but his performances never made an impression until later. And still, even after watching him in a slew of other films, I didn't know him by name until around Capote. But I did know I liked his acting, even though I was occasionally repulsed by some of his characters. Or fascinated. He cut to the core of what it means to be human. Nowhere better does he do this than in Synecdoche, New York. Beside that I'd rate Love Liza, The Master, Capote, Owning Mahowny, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and Flawless as having his greatest performances. I need to give Magnolia a rewatch soon.

And now he's gone. I wish I could have watched him in Long Day's Journey into Night, Othello and Death of a Salesman. Or that upcoming Happyish TV series. I wish he'd joined the film Child 44 as rumoured so I could see him act with Gary Oldman. I wish he hadn't taken that one drink that sent him down the rabbit hole after over 20 years of sobriety.

You're right in also mourning all the characters we'll never see from him. He averaged around 20 films a decade. If he'd lived even to 70, that's at least 40 more films we might have had.

I feel your pain too, he was my all time favorite actor. Such a chameleon and a true one of a kind artist. I can only wonder what excellent films he would have stunned us with in years to come. From Mattress man to Capote and many other roles he was just incredible. Just tragic.

Since you lot seem to be Hoffman fans I figure you guys might have some interesting thoughts or ideas on how I have felt about him.

Truthfully, in the beginning of his career, I really did not like him.

I think I may have first noticed him in Scent of a Woman (playing a snot-nosed spoiled dick), then Twister (playing an over-the-top rambunctious annoyance of a character), and then in The Talented Mr. Ripley, playing a very intrusive and judgmental character (one of Jude Law's character's rich friends...or, well, maybe the only one they really showed...can't really remember anymore)...

Ahh, yes, and he also played in Red Dragon as the annoying Freddy Lounds (ahh, the same name his character had in Talented Mr. Ripley) the annoying reporter...However, of course, when I think about it, the truth is, he was playing some rather annoying characters and the fact that they annoyed the hell out of me means he was doing something right even way back then =)

Then, he seemed to start taking more serious roles and I am curious if you think he was as good of an actor early on or if he became a better actor later with experience or did he just get better, more serious parts to play?

I mean, we went from quite a few buffoons to him in Doubt, The Master, Capote, Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, Pirate Radio, Magnolia, etc..

So, is that all a coincidence and he just got more dramatic parts as Hollywood began to realize just how talented he was?

Well, he gave a eulogy at his funeral so I think he's said all that can be said.

Yeah, I think he simply got better with age. Obviously transitioning from bit parts to supporting characters to leading man roles. But he still rarely strayed from morally complex characters. I didn't always like them. But I remembered them. Especially the ones I could sympathize with.

They say that Paul gave a wonderful eulogy, celebrating Phil's life.

“It was quite beautiful. He (Anderson) just had a lot of very personal and lovely memories of Phil. And he made us all laugh; he quoted Phil extensively and we could kind of hear his voice in the room.”

http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2014/02/07/paul-thomas-anderson-deliv ers-touching-eulogy-at-philip-seymour-hoffman-funeral/