Jan. 25, 2006

A gaffe, a laugh, it's all in the film festival game
By Lloyd Grove
[full article]

Are Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jim Gaffigan the same person? Some folks think so - with occasionally red-faced results.

Gaffigan tells me: "I was just in Sundance this past weekend for the movie 'Stephanie Daley' [in which he plays the father of the title character], and literally people confused me with Phil Hoffman at least three times a day.

"I was at a party Friday night, having a long conversation with a publicist who told me, 'We really want to get you on "The Jimmy Kimmel Show."' And I said, 'That's great.' But it occurred to me that she called me 'Phil' a couple of times.

"Finally I said, 'You think I'm Phil Hoffman, don't you?' And she goes, 'Oh, my God! I'm sooo sorry! ... But I'm a fan of yours also.' And I said, 'You're really good at this publicist stuff, aren't you?'"

Gaffigan - who, at 39, is a year older than the Oscar-contending "Capote" star and, at 6 feet, a few inches taller - has more than 33 movies under his belt, compared with Hoffman's 39, and also boasts a thriving career as a standup comic (with a new DVD, "Beyond the Pale," and a Comedy Central special airing Sunday).

He and Hoffman know each other, having once worked on a movie that was never finished. "And we're both doughy white guys."

But Gaffigan concedes that Hoffman is the bigger draw: "In Hollywood, people either give you too much respect or no respect at all. This is the first time I've experienced both at the same time."