Iowa City Reacts To Actor’s Death
IOWA CITY, Iowa – As more details surrounding actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death are unveiled, Iowa City residents have been reacting in a myriad of ways.
Kembrew McLeod, a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa and an independent documentary producer, reflecting on Hoffman, said, “I thought it (his death) was really sad. He was one of my favorite actors.”
“He’s turned out incredible performances in a lot really significant films. His performance in “Magnolia” for instance was just incredible,” Professor McLeod continued.
McLeod also spoke on how ineffectively the media has reporting Hoffman’s heroin induced death stating, “The news reports that always surround a celebrity death from drugs usually over emphasizes the prevalence of drug use. Statistically, not that many people use heroin.”
“Since the beginning of human history, humans have found ways to get themselves high. It’s no surprise that it creeps into popular culture,” said McLeod of Hoffman’s death.
Josh Voorhees, the breaking news editor for Slate and Iowa City resident, reflected back on the day he broke the news of Hoffman’s death on Slate’s breaking news blog, The Slatest. “I get to do my job better when there is breaking news and breaking news, by definition, is bad. For the majority of us journalists, I believe that we are trained to be excited about the news and the story, not the tragedy itself. It was about the story that day,” said Voorhees.
For Voorhees, emotions and personal thoughts generally follow after getting the news out to the public. On an individual note, Voorhees said, “Half of my colleagues were crushed. They said he was a super humble guy and they’d see him out in Brooklyn getting coffee or walking with his kids.”
Hoffman was found dead on February 2, 2014 on the bathroom floor of his Greenwich Village apartment in New York of an apparent heroin overdose. Police at the scene found a syringe in his arm and numerous small envelopes of heroin. The death was brought on by an apparent drug relapse. After having given up drugs and alcohol at age 22, Hoffman checked himself into a rehabilitation program for 10 days in May 2013 to curb his heroin and prescription drug abuse.
Hoffman was widely revered as one of the best actors of the 90s and new millennium, winning an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005 for the lead role in “Capote”. Along with playing major roles in “Doubt”, “The Master”, and “Charlie Wilson’s War”, Hoffman was also very active in stage productions in New York. He starred and directed in numerous Broadway performances, receiving three Tony Award nominations for acting.
The shock of Hoffman’s death also struck University of Iowa students as well. Freshman Hannah Snyder said, “I was surprised he had died on an overdose but I wasn’t surprised that the drug was heroin.”
“From what I’ve heard, heroin is pretty popular among celebrities and it is kind of a ‘high end’ drug,” continued Snyder.
Conversely, some University of Iowa students were not only unaware of his death, but also oblivious as of whom Hoffman was. Anthony Gregorio, a UI sophomore, confessed, “to be honest, I didn’t really know who he was until I heard that he had died a few days after it actually happened.”
(This article was published February 28, 2014 for the classes Introduction to Multimedia Storytelling & Introduction to Journalistic Reporting and Writing)
