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.”
