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Philip Seymour
Hoffman is finally breaking his “where-have-I-seen-him-before?” presence
in American cinema. It seems he has given one too many stellar performances
to be invisible any longer. He is now starring in writer David Mamet’s
new movie State and Main in his first crack at a romantic
lead role.
He plays
Joe White, an idealistic playwright thrown into conflict with the trappings
of filmmaking and the heart of an engaged woman. Like all of Hoffman’s
characters, Joe struggles with expressing his manhood, reflecting
a planetary relationship in Hoffman’s chart that compels him to explore
this particular theme in his work.
Sun
Square Mars
 Hoffman
was born with his Leo Sun in a square aspect to his Mars in Scorpio. When
two planets are square, or 90 degrees from each other, there is a lot
of tension and friction between them. The powerful planetary combination
of Leo Sun square Scorpio Mars describes an inner drive so rigorous that
it could be termed a perpetual personal boot camp.
The strength
of both the Sun and Mars in Hoffman’s chart is intensified by the fact
that they are placed in signs they traditionally are associated with,
or “rule.” Leo, as the Sun-ruled sign, is drawn to find meaning in the
self and to explore the special world of an individual. Scorpio, as one
of two traditional Mars-ruled signs (the other is Aries), applies the
ancient Martian function of dissociation* (separation) to the zodiac.
Happiness
and Manhood
The dissociating
character of Mars corresponds to physical and social avenues typically
experienced by men, or that are linked to masculinity in some way. Hard
Sun-Mars aspects, like the square, describe challenging associations with
men or “male” values.
Hoffman’s
Mars is on the receiving end of the square from the Sun, indicating his
personal drive (Sun) to define masculinity (Mars) on his own terms. Portraying
manhood at its most fragile, Hoffman explores themes of emasculation and the brutality of manhood.
There is
Scotty in Boogie Nights, whose weakly closeted attraction
to Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) left him neutered in self-disgrace. In
The Talented Mr. Ripley, he played Freddie Miles, the degenerate
expatriate with subtle insecurities who callously taunted Ripley like
a shower-room towel snapper. Most blatantly, we see these themes in Allen,
the lonely bachelor in Happiness, who could talk up a good,
threatening obscene phone call, but was a complete failure as an actual
rapist.
Flawless
Hoffman’s
(until now) facelessness has been a key factor in his amazing mastery
of physical transformation. Director Joel Schumacher, who worked with
Hoffman on the movie Flawless said, “We bandy the term ‘chameleonic’
around all the time about actors, but he really has that quality. In spades.”
In the movie,
he was matched against a true master and fellow Leo, Robert
DeNiro. Hoffman played Rusty Zimmerman, a female impersonator
who gave DeNiro’s homophobic ex-cop Walter Koontz singing lessons to help
him recover from a stroke. Rusty, who risked the wrath of dangerous gangsters
to acquire enough money to afford a sex-change operation, presented Hoffman
with another perfect vehicle to act out concerns of his Sun-Mars square.
You
Talkin’ to Me?
Interestingly,
DeNiro was also born with a Sun-Mars square, but with a very distinct
difference from Hoffman. In his chart, Mars is in Taurus. DeNiro’s Sun-Mars
square draws him to portray men who are defined by their gender,
as opposed to Hoffman who prefers to play men who somehow undermine their
own masculinity.
The mutual,
but contentious, Sun-Mars relationship shared between Hoffman and DeNiro
set the perfect tone for the film’s main conflict. Both Rusty and Walter
fought to overcome their wounded manhood. Despite their polarity, they
shared a sense of separation from the standards set for their given gender.
Mars’ dissociating
function plays a huge part in how both actors generally approach their
craft. They are both known to completely lose their true selves in their
characters. Hoffman made a strong impression on Hollywood’s master of
disguise. His work was so thorough that DeNiro didn’t recognize him when
they met up again at the Flawless wrap party.
True
Grit
Hoffman,
a high school wrestler, applies an athletic thrust for excellence to his
craft, the kind necessary for great achievements. It’s a reflection, again,
of the dissociating nature of Mars to always be in action. Recently he
said, “I think what separates some of the great actors I’ve witnessed
over time from some of the average actors is hard work.”
His Sun-Mars
square describes his willingness to perform daring acts of performance
courage. Last year he starred in a stage version of True West
with his friend and frequent co-star, John C. Reilly. The actors, in a
stunning test of ability, traded the play’s only two roles every three
nights.
At the time,
Reilly described Hoffman as “An actor's actor, really fearless. He's not
afraid to explore all sides of the character, including the ugly, creepy
things that go on inside of all our heads.” They delivered highly acclaimed
performances in what seemed like a theatrical parallel of an afternoon
squash game between good buddies.
Almost
Famous
Hoffman
recently appeared in Cameron Crowe’s movie memoir of rock journalism in
the 70s, Almost Famous. He played the legendary outspoken
rock critic Lester Bangs, who died in 1982. Bangs was a mentor to the
young Crowe, a teenage reporter for Rolling Stone magazine
during that era. A notorious figure in his time, Bangs was a charging
commando in the war for artistic integrity and a vocal defender of creative
outsiders.
Hoffman’s
Sun-Mars square reveals how well he understands universal themes in the
lives of ordinary men. He has faced issues that would make most people
squirm and given them dignity, in a way that relates his characters’ suffering
to anyone. Through his portrayal of Bangs, Hoffman summarized his own
appeal: “The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share
with someone else when you're uncool.”
*Classical
definition of Mars quoted from Robert Schmidt, Whether and Whence,
Cassette Two, an introduction to his translations of Hellenistic astrological
texts for Project
Hindsight.
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