Watch Philip Seymour Hoffman star in final film God's Pocket before his death

Late actor plays anguished step father of a deceased local boy in the crime drama, which is due to be released this week

Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Mickey in 'God's Pocket' (Press handout)

A clip of Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final performances before his death has debuted exclusively on The Independent today.

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The film preview sees the late actor star alongside Christina Hendricks in the darkly comic crime drama God’s Pocket as the stepfather of a boy who is killed in a construction “accident”.

Seymour Hoffman plays local man Mickey Scarpato, who later becomes dismayed to find nobody in the working class neighbourhood of God’s Pocket is sorry that his stepson has died.

Mickey tries to bury the bad news with the body, but when the boy’s mother Jeanie demands the truth, Mickey finds himself stuck in a difficult situation with a body he can’t bury, a wife he can’t please and a debt he can’t pay.

In the clip, Hoffman can be seen looking sweaty and tired in the wake of his stepson’s death as he tries to reason with his wife Jeanie, played by Hendricks.

“Jeanie, there’s something I need to tell you!” he pleads with her, as she ignores him by lying on the sofa with her back to him.

The film, which is directed by John Slattery, also stars Richard Jenkins, John Turturro, Eddie Marsan and Caleb Landry Jones.

Seymour Hoffman, who died suddenly of a heroin overdose in February, appeared in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire earlier this year as head gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee.

He is also due to appear on screen in the forthcoming thriller A Man Most Wanted, which will be released in the UK in September.

God’s Pocket is released in the UK on Friday 8 August.