Philip Seymour Hoffman on the relationship with his own siblings:

“I think relationships are pretty complex. I have friends that I don’t see for long periods of time and then I do, and sometimes I don’t want to see them and then I do. I go through periods where I see them a lot and then I care not to see them a lot and then I have siblings that I go through the same thing with. I mean, that’s my understanding of relationships in general and I think that these two [characters] are more isolated than most, and I think that’s part of the film, a relationship of children with their father.”

Hoffman on feeling the emotion within the scenes:

“The character is actually dealing with the problem at the time. You get to witness it and feel it through catharsis. But you’re watching two characters deal with it in the moment; you’re watching two characters deal with their father losing his mind and, especially with my character, a father he doesn’t really know anymore. So that’s sad to you. Hopefully watching it, realizing the history they have, and there he is trying desperately to help his father, but I’m not thinking that in the moment as I’m acting it or else I’m not doing that good of a job.”

Hoffman on how he imagine himself as the character when reading the script:

“It comes… you just have to do your work and let it come. It’s different with every role. When you read through it once, you know, you’re interested, but then it’s who else is going to be involved. There’s a lot of other questions, but after you read a script once it’s hard not to react. Then other things have to fall into place for you to say yes.”

On distinguishing between those who really like his work an those who just say it:

“Well, it goes both ways. You have people who might say it who aren’t feeling it, but you also have people who won’t say it who do feel it. That thing goes both ways almost equal time. [laughs] It’s funny because you have people who have a really hard time giving it up and some people have an easy time giving it up, and some people are just honest. It’s a lot of baggage that comes with that kind of thing, and depending again on the relationship, is it a close friend of yours, is it an actor, is it your brother? So I always try to listen to people and hope that they’ll be honest or hope that they won’t say anything that they don’t need to say. My thing is always, ‘Hey, if I didn’t ask, I don’t care to know.’ That’s why I always find it funny when people come right up to you and tell you how they feel about something you did… I’m like, ‘Did we have a meeting scheduled? I don’t recall it.’ [laughs]”

Hoffman on Sidney Lumet.

“He’s got a ton of energy and he still has a lot of enthusiasm for the work. And I don’t think he’s interested in telling certain tales because of how old he is, I think he’s just interested in telling good stories. And Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a great story. I remember reading it going, ‘Wow, this is a great story.’ It’s a very dark, very nasty story, but still a great story.”

Philip Seymour Hoffman on his upcoming project, Doubt:

“It’s a play and it ran for two years on Broadway. It’s toured all over the country and it won the Pulitzer. I don’t think it’s as fringy, I mean, it’s a hot button issue, but I think it’s dealt with in a really great way. It’s about that, but it’s also about something else that’s why it’s called Doubt. The play is about somebody it doesn’t really know if what they’re accusing the person of is true.”