Was there any negative aspect to the Oscar?

Philip Seymour Hoffman: It's not the negative aspect to the Oscar. Take the Oscar out of it. The Oscar is something that happens in your life. And you're grateful for it. I really mean that. You're grateful for anything that comes into your life that can open more doors. But, no, when you become more well-known you lose your anonymity more, and there's positives and negatives to that.

How do you react to that?

Philip Seymour Hoffman: It depends. There's times when you're having a conversation with your five year-old son, and someone interrupts that without saying 'excuse me,' and then you say, 'I can't talk,' and they get mad at you. There are moments like that. They happen. But they're rare. Well, not really rare but in the lower percentage. The majority of people are quite respectful. But people lose their sense of pride. It's a weird thing. The positives outweigh the negatives. People are very appreciative. People like to go to movies and the theatre, and they do appreciate it if they like what you did.

Are you surprised that you have become more famous? How did it happen?

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Life happens. And there you are. You do start to audition for films and you do get that job. And then you think, 'OK, I'll make a movie once in a while and do my theatre thing.' All of a sudden you're 29 and somebody stares at you in a restaurant and you think they don't like you or they want to fight you or you know them and you forgot their name. Then you realize they saw your movie and they know you. And that's shocking. It's like losing your left arm. You don't understand that. You walk along life anonymous and then suddenly you're not anonymous. It just happens because you're following the work. But you don't think you're going to be a famous person. You think you might make a movie, you might do some plays but you don't ever think you'll be famous.

Really? Is that true?

Philip Seymour Hoffman: No. It's funny. I was reading William Goldman's book [Hype and Glory] - it's about when he was on the jury in Cannes and on the jury at the American beauty pageant. Really great. He's a wonderful writer. Very funny. But he said this thing about when actors become actors they know what they're getting into. I read that and thought, 'Oh God, that's so not true!' It's just categorically false. Yeah, I'm sure there's a group of actors that do know, that want to be in the movies, and want to be movie stars. But there's a whole bunch of us that got into acting because we went to our regional theatres and saw All My Sons. Or wanted to do Off-Broadway and ride a bike to the theatre. That's what I thought was going to be my life. I had no idea I was going to be on a screen.

You're coming up in Richard Curtis' The Boat That Rocked. How was that experience?

Philip Seymour Hoffman: He's a wonderful guy. I really like him a lot actually. I hope we stay friends. He's a really great 'hang.' That's what I say when it's somebody you can hang with easily. I really can just sit and talk with him for hours. And there was a lot of stuff filming on a boat, in the middle of the ocean. We were off Weymouth. We got out about a mile or two. It's a great group. I play an American DJ.