Clooney Reflects on Last Meeting with Hoffman

Published
ABC News

George Clooney opens up about his friend Philip Seymour Hoffman in a new interview and recalls the last time he met with the late actor. 

"We had dinner in Berlin a few months ago," Clooney said during an appearance on ABC News' Popcorn with Peter Travers. "He seemed to be having a tougher time, you know? And there's no understanding what goes on in an individual's mind in their lives." 

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The Academy Award-winning star added: "It's something that I can't comprehend really... We loved him as a community. He was a friend to all of us in this community and he was also this incredible talent. And he was way too young, and it is just something that I can't understand, I can't comprehend."

Clooney said it was difficult traveling to New York for the premiere of his new movie The Monuments Men in the wake of Hoffman's death last Sunday from a suspected drug overdose. "I was in New York two days after, Phil's no longer in New York -- and you know I always think of him in this city... It was very hard to walk the red carpet and talk about."

Clooney described his friend as "a really good athlete," and said the two had played basketball together. He also said he found it a pleasure to direct Hoffman. "It was so much fun because he gave options, which doesn't always happen with actors."

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