Philip Seymour Hoffman sat down for this chilling portrait session at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, exactly two weeks before his Sunday, Feb. 2 death from an apparent drug overdose at the age of 46. An eyewitness who encountered Hoffman before the image was taken tells Us Weekly the actor "didn't look well" while promoting his new spy movie, A Most Wanted Man.
The devastating tintype, wet collodion-style image, which was taken by Associated Press photographer Victoria Will on Jan. 19, shows a more somber side of Hoffman — looking haunted and slightly agitated. "I remember looking at him and thinking he didn't look well," the source adds to Us. "He didn't look like someone who took care of himself."
The eyewitness says right before Hoffman sat down for the portrait session, the Oscar winner had gotten into an altercation on Main Street in Park City. "He had gotten in an argument with a paparazzo outside," the insider recalls. "It got ugly."
Another eyewitness, who was at the premiere of A Most Wanted Man at the Eccles Theatre, also notes the actor's disheveled state that day: "He came very dressed down, not put together, but I remember seeing him smiling."
Hoffman spoke to very few outlets during his stay at Sundance, but told PopStopTV of his character in A Most Wanted Man: "I connected a lot with him. I think it's hard for anyone not to connect with the loneliness. He's a pretty lonely, driven, obsessive guy who's unforgiving of himself in a lot of ways. [He has] a lot of traits a lot of people carry."
As previously reported, Hoffman entered rehab for a 10-day stint back in May 2013. The actor, who credited "a great group of friends and family" for encouraging him to seek treatment, had been sober for more than 23 years when he had relapsed.