tavis: good evening, tonight a conversation with philip seymour hoffman. having established himself as one of the best working actors, he has turned his attention to directing with his new project "check goes bowling." his thoughts on other subjects including business and broadway. we are glad you have joined us. a conversation with philip seymour hoffman. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org tavis: always pleased to welcome philip seymour hoffman to this program. he has established himself as one of the best of his generation. his latest project is called "jack goes bowling." also directs and produces it. here now is a scene

join me next time with oscar winner philip seymour hoffman purify his new movie open quote geckos -- seymour hoffman on his new movie "jack goes boating." >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and the economic empowerment that comes with it. your side ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> we are pb

later in the week, philip seymour hoffman, who is making his directorial debut. on thursday night, the "house" star hugh laurie is here, and then we revisit a documentary on baseball. tonight, we begin our week with kathleen sebelius, former governor of kansas, the now, of course, serves as president obama note's secretary of health and human services -- serves as president obama's health and human services secretary. good to have you back on the program. >> good to be here. tavis: was it worth it? "it" being the fight that you had to go through. the polls still indicate that most americans either do and understand what we have done or are in disagreement with what we have done, and the critics tend to calling obama care, so first of all, was it worth it, the fight? >> well, i think it was absolutely worth it. as you know, note tavis, presidents since harry truman have tried to push for some kind of reform of health care and health insurance, and this president finally got it done, signed into law on march 23, and as you say, this month marks the six-month annive

. >> jimmy: philip seymour hoffman is an amazing guy. >> he's amazing. he's the greatest actor.y: where did it come from? a stage play? >> it started as a play off broadway. >> jimmy: he did it? >> he didn't direct it. but he acted in it, as well. as did john ortiz and daphne rubin-vega, who are also in the film. >> jimmy: they're great, too, yeah. it's just an interesting thing about it. it's kind of, like, two single people -- >> yeah, it's two -- lonely hearts who are in their 40s and are a little afraid of love. but they have two friends that are in a marriage that set them up. and as their love starts to blossom the other marriage starts to crack and crumble. but it's actually very funny and poignant and beautiful. and it's set in new york. and it's shot in new york, and it's just a love letter to the city, as well. >> jimmy: we have a clip from the movie. "jack goes boating." amy ryan. >> went back to be with her at the village care facility. >> oh, that's -- god! got up from a coma, went home. >> and then he fell down and hit his head in the hallway, and then he died. [ l

hissing] [both screaming] [bat screeches] tavis: good evening, tonight a conversation with philip seymour hoffman. having established himself as

. >> i was surprised to see that this is philip seymour hoffman's fought director role. he's such a phenomenal actor. how is it like to work with him? >> what i imagine, it's just feeling like the stakes are higher and the bar raised and you are working with someone so extraordinary at what they do. they start with their process and method and so you get to advance to that next level. so he's very passionate and very driven, he's very kind. and he's hard on us. but in the best way. he expected and demanded and wanted better performances from us. >> well it was not a stretch with you. just to talk briefly, and we were talking before, and i said i saw gone baby gone and realized you were the same actress from the wire and the office, and all of these other movies, i was struck by your ability to transform into these roles, especially gone baby gone with the accent and the whole demeanor. your a new york city girl but in that movie, you were from boston. how do you do that and how much fun is it. >>> >> it's as fun as possible. and i do it by watching and we got to shoot th

especially philip seymour hoffman. he plays a limo driver. parlor. >> trying to sell grief seminars. >> how does that go? >> it's awful. >> she's terrible at love until she meets phil's character. she makes that choice of it's now ornever, and the althou alternative of living alon wilo with 40 cats. >> what was it like working with him as a director? >> to be directed by him, it feels like you're getting the answs from the smartest kid in class for t test. he's very passionate. he's a bit of a hard ass in a good way. >> he's type a. >>e wants you to keep up with him, and it's great to be invited to keep up with him. >> was it intimidating to work with him? >> no. i've worked with him before. we're a group of friends from neyork. >> you weren't in the original stage ow? >> right. the stage show was rewritten when it became a screenplay. they were playing catch-up as much as i was. >> i love that your xhashgt is interesting in some ways because she fades into the pavement, but at the same time she desperately wants attention in the weirdest kin