"Phil Hoffman and I had two things in common. We were both fathers of young children, and we were both recovering drug addicts."
So begins a commentary in Time magazine about Hoffman written by acclaimed playwright and movie/TV screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
Sorkin talks about meeting Hoffman for the first time on the set of "Charlie Wilson’s War," which had a screenplay penned by Sorkin and co-starred Hoffman.
"On breaks during rehearsals, we would sometimes slip outside our soundstage on the Paramount lot and get to swapping stories," Sorkin writes, adding: "It’s not unusual to have these mini-AA meetings — people like us are the only ones to whom tales of insanity don’t sound insane. ‘Yeah, I used to do that.’ I told him I felt lucky because I’m squeamish and can’t handle needles. He told me to stay squeamish. And he said this: ‘If one of us dies of an overdose, probably 10 people who were about to won’t.’ He meant that our deaths would make news and maybe scare someone clean."
Sorkin also wrote that Hoffman "did not die from an overdose of heroin — he died from heroin. We should stop implying that if he’d just taken the proper amount then everything would have been fine."
Sorkin went on to write that Hoffman "didn’t die because he was partying too hard or because he was depressed — he died because he was an addict on a day of the week with a ‘y’ in it."
And as part of Hoffman’s legacy, Sorkin suggests that we "add to that 10 people who were about to die who won’t now."
To read about an interview with Hoffman that’s upcoming on "60 Minutes," please click here.
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