We would probably have given Philip Seymour Hoffman two thumbs up if he performed the role of Roger Ebert, but now that can never be.
At a recent screening of the documentary Life Itself, which focused on Roger’s life, Chaz Ebert, his widow, brought up Roger’s wish to have Philip portray him in film if a movie was ever made about his life:
“Roger always said, ‘If you ever do a movie where you need someone to play me, I want Philip Seymour Hoffman to play me.’ He was one of the most versatile actors ever, and he also was a brilliant man [and] human being — just very smart.”
In fact, Chaz talked about this potential acting role as recent as the Sundance Film Festival:
“When we were at Sundance, I was talking to someone about that. I didn’t see Phil at Sundance, but I was talking to someone, saying, ‘You know he’s here. I heard Roger would like [Hoffman] to play him in a movie, what do you think about that?’ We were just talking about that last week, so├óΓé¼┬ªRoger and I thought he was just terrific. We thought he was one of the best actors of any age. He was just so versatile, and he was a brilliant, very smart human being.”
This is just one of the many not-meant-to-be performances we guess we’ll have to miss out on from the late, great acting legend.
We hope both Roger and Philip are resting in peace.