Philip Seymour Hoffman to Play Father Flynn in Big Screen Doubt with Streep

Philip Seymour Hoffman, currently finishing an off-Broadway run in Jack Goes Boating, will join Meryl Streep in the big screen adaptation of Doubt. According to Variety, he will play Father Flynn, the catholic priest accused of pedophilia by a stern nun Streep. The two Oscar-winning stars were previously seen together in the 2001 Shakespeare in the Park production of The Seagull.

Hoffman made his Broadway debut in True West in 2000, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. He garnered a second Tony nomination three years later for playing James Tyrone, Jr. in Long Day's Journey Into Night. Off-Broadway acting credits include The Striker, Defying Gravity, Shopping and Fucking and Jack Goes Boating. He is co-artistic director of LAByrinth Theatre Company, where he has directed productions of Jesus Hopped the A Train, Our Lady of 121st Street and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Hoffman won the 2006 Academy Award for portraying author Truman Capote in Capote. Other notable film credits include Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, Happiness, Patch Adams, Flawless, Magnolia, The Talented Mr. Ripley, State and Main, Almost Famous, Punch-Drunk Love, 25th Hour, Cold Mountain, Along Came Polly, Strangers with Candy and Mission: Impossible III.

After premiering at Manhattan Theater Club, Doubt opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre on March 31, 2005 featuring Cherry Jones as Sister Aloysius, Brian F. O'Byrne as Father Flynn, Heather Goldenhersh as Sister James and Adriane Lenox as Mrs. Muller. Set at a Catholic school in the Bronx, it centers on a nun who grows suspicious when a priest begins taking too much interest in the life of a young black student. Is she being overly protective or not protective enough? And can she work within the system to discover the truth? Doug Hughes directed the Broadway production of Doubt, which closed on July 2, 2006 after 525 performances.

Doubt was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Actress in a Play Jones, Best Featured Actress in a Play Lenox and Best Direction of a Play.

Doubt is expected to arrive in movie theaters in 2008.