Two legends recently passed away; Roger Ebert Wanted PSH to play him in a movie.
After the emotional screening and release of the Roger Ebert documentary “Life Itself” at the New York Paley Center for Media last Monday, Chaz Ebert, the film critic’s widow, made known that her husband had always thought Philip Seymour Hoffman would play him in a movie.
“I’m really happy to be here and I’m so glad you all came out. [Sunday] was hard, when I heard of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death. We always thought — Roger said he is one of the best, most versatile actors ever. He was also a brilliant man.” Chaz Ebert said during a post-screening panel discussion about “Life Itself” alongside the film’s director, Steve James,”Roger always said, ‘If you ever do a movie where you need someone to play me, I want Philip Seymour Hoffman to play me.'”
Unfortuantely, Hoffman was found dead in his New York City apartment on Sunday after an apparent drug overdose. He was 46 years old.
Hoffman and Ebert, who was a special guest at the Rooftop Films/Piper-Heidsieck screening of “Life Itself,” both attended this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
However, according to Chaz Ebert, the pair never crossed paths, but the topic of Hoffman playing Roger Ebert did come up.
“Some other people were talking about that,” she said. “[They said] Maybe we’re going to ask Phil, ‘Are you going to play Roger Ebert in a movie?'”
“Life Itself,” was recently picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Martin Scorsese and Steve Zaillian were among the executive producers of “Life Itself,” which was produced by Zak Piper for Kartemquin Films and Garrett Basch for Film Rites.
