Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman says he never asked for or expected fame because it happened by accident. And now he is wary.

"Yeah, it's really tricky," Hoffman, 41, told Sun Media yesterday before Michael Caine started rumours that Hoffman was going to be The Penguin in the next Batman film. That will clinch his celebrity status -- scary!

Meanwhile, Hoffman was in Toronto for the North American debut of writer-director Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, a courageous film about life, death and the creation of art no matter the odds. It opens in October.

Hoffman said it felt surreal when he arrived at Pearson Airport late Sunday and a paparazzo shot him coming out. The actor recalled thinking: "It is 11 o'clock at night. What are you doing here? Is it really that interesting?"

On his way to Cannes in May for the world premiere of Synecdoche, Hoffman read a book by legendary Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman. "A terrific book," Hoffman said, "but he goes on about celebrities and their problem because they are famous. And he doesn't empathize because they should know (what would happen)!"

Hoffman disagrees. "I don't think that makes any sense at all. My passion to develop as an actor didn't have anything to do with people knowing me. I had no idea that would happen.

"I remember going to see films and thinking 'those are famous people. That is out of reach. That's not going to happen to me.' I'll be somebody who hopefully does a lot of plays and can work in the theatre and I'll ride my bike there and that will be my life and the people who know me will be the people who go to the theatre. But that's like any job. People know you because you do what you do.

"But to become famous, to become a celebrity, is something that I thought happened to other people and I don't think that was ignorance. Most actors who do get into acting don't do it to become famous. When it does happen, it is shocking! It is really a wild thing."

Nothing shocked more than the Oscar as best actor for Capote in 2006. "What was that?" he recalled thinking. "Well, that is way too much attention!' That is something that happens to someone else.

"It was so intense. It was so concentrated, just pure attention, and you're literally going through a physical experience of that thing. Why I disagreed with Mr. Goldman is that my idea of success as an actor would be to be in a play that would run ... and it still is!"

Hoffman is now preparing to direct a play in London that was written by Andrew Upton, Cate Blanchett's husband. That is exactly the kind of work he would do if he had not won the Oscar and been nominated again for Charlie Wilson's War.

"You just go and do it," Hoffman said going to work after Oscar. "You don't think about it. You let that pass as another moment. You can't get caught up in it. I think if I had stopped and literally look at it and said, 'Now, how can I make this into a benefit?', then I would be all screwed up."

Instead, he did roles in films as varied as Mission: Impossible III, The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Synecdoche, New York and the forthcoming Doubt and The Boat that Rocked.

"You've just got to keep moving on with what you're supposed to be doing, what you want to do, and what is in front of you, and what makes sense."