WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE HIM –
May 29, 2022 – This is not happenstance. James Declan Tobin, the film producer who commissioned the memorial, is a friend of Hoffman’s family and was insistent that the sculpture portrays the late actor’s spirit.
“There was a lot of silence after Phil died,” Tobin said in a statement. “I wanted to keep the light going. I wanted Phil’s family to know the impact he had on me and the world.”
The sculpture will eventually move to New York City, but Hoffman’s family wanted his hometown to first see the artwork. It is now placed outside the Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum, with Hoffman in midstride as if walking to the theater. Dressed casually, Hoffman carries a messenger bag, a look familiar to his neighbors in Greenwich Village, where he lived for years. Greenwich Village could be the location where the sculpture eventually settles; its location in New York City is undecided.
