News > Philip Seymour Hoffman to Appear in Spielberg's Chicago 7

Written by David Morgan

Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman is apparently joining the cast of Steven Spielberg's The Trial of the Chicago Seven. I say apparently, because there's been no official statement issued (that we're aware of). It just came up in the Vanity Fair article on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (still a bad title). Writer Jim Windolf seems to take for granted that the decision has been made. He says, "Sacha Baron Cohen (as Abbie Hoffman) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as William Kunstler) are also linked to the project, which has a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin."

Kunstler was the attorney who defended the Chicago Seven against the charges that they incited a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Kunstler had previously defended such prominent persons as Martin Luther King, Jr., Lenny Bruce, and Jack Ruby, all three of whom were dead by the time he defended the Seven. Not a lawyer for the superstitious, I suppose.

So this marks a third Hoffman involved in the film. Abbie Hoffman, Philip Hoffman, and Julius Hoffman (the judge in the trial). Spielberg should think about giving his actor from Hook a call.