Aaron Sorkin: Philip Seymour Hoffmans Death Saved 10 Lives
The creator of 'The West Wing' and the renowned actor shared a struggle with drug addiction. Sorkin remembers a performer who dominated the real estate upon which his characters walked
Phil Hoffman and I had two things in common. We were both fathers of young children, and we were both recovering drug addicts. Of course Id known Phils work for a long time since his remarkably perfect film debut as a privileged, cowardly prep-school kid in Scent of a Woman but Id never met him until the first table read for Charlie Wilsons War, in which hed been cast as Gust Avrakotos, a working-class CIA agent whod fallen out of favor with his Ivy League colleagues. A 180-degree turn.
On breaks during rehearsals, we would sometimes slip outside our soundstage on the Paramount lot and get to swapping stories. Its not unusual to have these mini-AA meetings people like us are the only ones to whom tales of insanity dont sound insane. Yeah, I used to do that. I told him I felt lucky because Im squeamish and cant handle needles. He told me to stay squeamish. And he said this: If one of us dies of an overdose, probably 10 people who were about to wont. He meant that our deaths would make news and maybe scare someone clean.
So its in that spirit that Id like to say this: Phil Hoffman, this kind, decent, magnificent, thunderous actor, who was never outwardly right for any role but who completely dominated the real estate upon which every one of his characters walked, did not die from an overdose of heroin he died from heroin. We should stop implying that if hed just taken the proper amount then everything would have been fine.
He didnt die because he was partying too hard or because he was depressed he died because he was an addict on a day of the week with a y in it. Hell have his well-earned legacy his Willy Loman that belongs on the same shelf with Lee J. Cobbs and Dustin Hoffmans, his Jamie Tyrone, his Truman Capote and his Academy Award. Lets add to that 10 people who were about to die who wont now.
Sorkin is an Academy Awardwinning writer who wrote the screenplays for two of Hoffmans films: Charlie Wilsons War (2007) and Moneyball (2011)
