A sad demise and lots of awards

Last month we learnt about the sad death of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Even if the official cause of his death hasn´t been offered yet, most media sources have pointed out a drugs overdose as the most likely cause of his demise. Apparently, the actor had to cope with abuse and depression for the most part of his life. I guess that most of us were unaware of this fact, however, I feel that there is nothing wrong with that, that is, why should all of us be entitled to know the most private details of the personal lives of some people just because we admire their work as actors? That´s just  food for thought for another discussion.

In my opinion, what is really important is that he won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as the writer Truman Capote in the 2005 film Capote and also that he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Award three times thanks to his role as a CIA operative in Charlie Wilson´s War, his role as Father Brendan Flynn in Doubt or his role as Lancaster Dodd in The Master. The three roles don´t have much in common but the wonderful performance of a gifted actor. In addition to his work in films, Hoffman starred in a 2012 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman as he played the part of Willy Loman – one of the iconic roles in American theatre – and his acting was then described as “heartbreaking” in his portrayal of a man who is broken and disillusioned.

To me, Philip Seymour Hoffman, will always be associated with the role of Freddie Miles in The Talented Mr Ripley. His appearance – unlike that of the typical Hollywood actor – came as a contrast to Jude Law in one of the best films which were released in 1999. Freddie Miles is not a nice guy but he is a good friend who cares about  Dickie  and he is the only one who sees through Ripley, a quality that draws the empathy of the audience and redeems our view of the character.

More recently, young film-goers have become familiar with him thanks to the role of Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and he was also due to appear in a two-part sequel: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay which is being made at the moment. In short, Philip Seymour Hoffman was  such a versatile actor that it´s up to us to choose the character that we want to remember.

But the show must go on, as they say in Broadway, and that´s why, now I must consider another event which makes us be in a better mood: the 86^th ceremony of the  Academy Awards which took place in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, a ceremony which was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres on 2^nd March. By now, most of you must be familiar with this year´s winners: Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey, Lupita Nyong´o, Jared Leto, Alfonso Cuarón were probably the most important names of that night and 12 Years a Slave won the Oscar for Best Picture. However, despite the importance of the awards, I have the feeling that this year´s ceremony will be remembered for other reasons which are not merely cinematographic. For example, the way Ellen DeGeneres poked fun at Liza Minnelli´s appearance or the picture of  some film stars eating a piece of pizza or DeGeneres´ idea of gathering some members from the audience for a selfie which was star-studded: Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Kevin Spacey were in the shot. Bradley Cooper, who lost out on the Best Supporting Actor Award to Jared Leto, took the photo. DeGeneres broke the record for Twitter retweets that night by tweeting the memorable selfie. The snap seemed to be spontaneous, however, according to the Wall Street Journal, the idea of taking a selfie was triggered by the need to integrate the phone into the show as part of an advertising campaign. I guess that the company selling this sophisticated device must be vey happy because the selfie got viral. On the one hand, the ceremony reflected a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly popular thanks to social networks but on the other hand, I feel that this year we´ve paid attention to a part of the show that is important, but aren´t there other moments which are equally memorable and have gone unnoticed? 

 What do you think about this year´s Oscar Awards ceremony? Was Ellen DeGeneres really funny? What do you think about the way the ceremony was covered by the mass media?