Philip Seymour Hoffman: “I don’t want to direct myself again”

Philip Seymour Hoffman is the star and director of the upcoming film, Jack Goes Boating, and after this experience, he says that he won't be doing double-duty again.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is the star and director of the upcoming film, Jack Goes Boating, and after this experience, he says that he won’t be doing double-duty again.

“I don’t want to direct myself again,” he told ABC News.

At first, he hired another actor to play ‘Jack’ but schedules changed and the un-named actor had to drop out. Since Hoffman had originated the role off-Broadway, he decided to do the part himself.

He found it difficult switching between directing and acting. Having directed several stage plays before, he loves the collaboration it brings. “I’m a much easier person to be around. Even when it gets really tough there’s a joyfulness to it because you’re just in it.”

Acting, though, is “a different beast. You’ve got to create a sense of privacy. You have to create a sense of focus that’s so sharp and so specific that you have to hold over for a period of time.”

During a particularly difficult scene, he began to get depressed when he would watch the playback. “That day was a really hard day. … I did a lot of takes. There were moments like that where it got kinda dark. That’s when I had to grow up and I’d leave the set, get by myself and go, ‘You’re not a director, you’re an actor,’ and do what I need to do, go back and do it.”

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