Anthony Hopkins – Twenty Years before he won his second Oscar

May 22, 2021 201 Comments

      December 2001         By Philip Berk

The eighties weren’t particularly good to Anthony Hopkins.

Roles were few and far between, so he left Hollywood and sought refuge in the London theatre

But then l991 changed all.

His groundbreaking role as Hannibal Lecter (in Silence of the Lambs) earned him an Academy Award, and since then he’s become of the world’s most employable and highly respected actors.                                              

Now, ten years later, he’s back as Hannibal Lecter in Ridley Scott’s sequel, appropriately entitled Hannibal.

The movie opened to blockbuster business in the U.S. — $50 million in its first weekend.

Although Jodie Foster is no longer playing  Clarice (Julianne Moore has the role) Hopkins makes up for it.

“A performance of exquisite delicacy and riveting force,” as Variety puts it, 

At his press conference in New York last week, he’s punctual, very business like. Let’s get on with it, get it over as quickly as possible, is what he’s saying. He’s  humorless, taciturn, not unlike Hannibal himself, but ultimately you realize he’s only  being true to himself. 

Hopkins would rather be alone than talking  to the press. He doesn’t like doing interviews, not because he feels superior but because he despises the disingenuous blarney that passes as truth.

Actor Studio interviews, where actors are asked inane questions like, If you were a plant, what plant would you be? particularly gall him.

As he puts it, “I can’t get involved in the mishmash, the politics of acting. I don’t understand what they’re talking about. Maybe I’m stupid. When actors talk about acting I wish I could be like them. I wish I was as clever as them but I’m not. I don’t fill my mind up with all this stuff.”

Of course he’s being facetious because over the years he proved time and again that he’s not only one of the most interesting actors around but the most generous.

But it takes time for him to warm up, and he won’t suffer fools.

Is there any food he wouldn’t eat? he’s asked.

“Ear lobes,” he replies. “I’m a vegetarian.”

What was the most adventurous food he ate before becoming a vegetarian?

“I’m not a connoisseur of food. A cheese sandwich. That’s absolutely my limit. I can’t even cook. I can’t boil an egg. I’ve got no interest in food at all. I eat in restaurants.”

Is he anxious to know how the critics will respond to the film?

“No.”

How important is it for him?

“Not very important. I’m kind of detached from it all.”

Has he warned people about the monumentally grotesque scene near the end?

“I tell them that some strange things happen in it, but I don’t warn them. If they enjoy it, fine. If they don’t, fine.”

No aspect of the film interests him other than his contribution as an actor?

“I find putting the jigsaw pieces together interesting. You work on the film and then ten months later it has been completed. That does interest me, the editing. And I like watching them score the music. I love watching that process. I’m interested in that side. I have a fascination for the amazing process of putting a movie together, all the ingenuity of editing and computer graphics that creates the finished product. I don’t understand it, but it interests me. And I’m also very interested in the marketing of the movie, how they put it out. “

Does he make suggestions?

“I don’t, because it has nothing to do with me. I have only one job to do. I speak the lines, show up, wear funny hats, kill a few people, and they do the rest.”

What fascinates him about the editing process?

“I find it interesting how those genius editors come up with these amazing ideas. I was shocked when I watched the opening scene of the film  because it wasn’t like that in the script. I was so amazed the way they introduced Hannibal very early in the film. I think of them, the editors and director, as great psychologists. I’d make a terrible director because I wouldn’t  know how to do that. I have directed a film,  but I got so bored with the editing,  I’ll never directed again.”

What about pre-production. How early is he involved?

“I learn the text first, the entire script as much as I can. It’s relatively easy for me especially if you work with a good director like Ridley Scott.”

Did he always anticipate that there would be a sequel?

“I never ever thought about doing it. After Silence of the Lambs, people would ask me when, and I’d answer, I don’t know. Ask (the author) Tom Harris. But eighteen months ago my agent phoned me up and said ‘Thomas Harris is writing the book.’ They sent me the galleys, I read it,  and thought it was good, but I didn’t know what was going to happen. And then (the original director) Jonathan Demme phoned me and said he wasn’t going to do it, and I thought, ‘Oh,’ and then Dino de Laurentiis roped in Ridley Scott, and they worked on the script and gave it  to Jodie Foster, and I heard that she turned it  down , and I thought maybe it won’t be made at all. I didn’t really care. I had no expectations of it and no sense of disappointment.”

Wasn’t he the one who suggested Julianne Moore as Jodie’s replacement?

“What happened was, Dino phoned me up and he said, ‘We’re going ahead.’ They chose a few actors to test for the part, and Julianne happened to be one of them. So I asked my agent if I had any power of casting, and he said no. So I said, ‘Can I make any suggestions?’ and he said, ‘Well what?’ So anyway Ridley called me up and said, ‘Do you know any of these? Have you worked with any of them?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I worked with Julianne before. I don’t know the others. I’ve never worked with them, even met with them,’ although I had met Helen Hunt. Anyway I said, ‘I like Julianne. I think she’s great. I described a scene that she did in Surviving Picasso, when we were in France and how good she was, and to my secret delight when Dino phoned me and said it’s Julianne, I said good.” 

And would he do another sequel?

“I doubt it. By the time Thomas Harris writes it, I ‘d be too old to do it because he usually takes ten years to write a book.”

But isn’t there talk of reviving the character of Hannibal in a remake of the first Hannibal Lecter film, in which Brian Cox played Hannibal?

“Dino does want to remake Manhunter, yes, and he is very persuasive so maybe I will, maybe I won’t. I’ll have to wait ’til the script comes along.” 

Why are people so eager to see this kind of horror?

“I have no idea. The only thing I can think of, it’s like going on a rollercoaster. We pay to get a fright. Watching a movie gives us a false reality. We give ourselves a fright through it, the same way children like ghost stories. They like to be scared.”

There are people who consider the film dangerous.

“People take it all too seriously. Everyone is so intense about it,  coming up with all kinds of moralistic questions. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. If people are fascinated by it, I’m glad. It’s given me some extra work, helps me pay the mortgage. I’m pleased, but it’s only an entertainment. It’s not brain surgery!” 

Did he ever think of Hannibal as an agent of god, since he punishes only  bad people?

“He is a little like Dirty Harry, the deliverer of justice; he kills all the bad guys. But no one need worry about his mental health if he sits through this movie and is entertained. When I saw Jaws, I didn’t have to check in with a psycho therapist”

Was he disturbed by the ending in the book?

“I like the end of the book. I don’t have any problem with it. Jonathan Demme and Jodie Foster had a problem, and that may have alerted the studio when they pulled out. I on the other hand liked the ending of the book. I thought it would be interesting if she ended up with him because I don’t think she’s submitting to evil. I think she’s submitting to some kind of force in herself, but I had nothing to do with that. As I told Ridley, I don’t care what ending they use. They did film another ending. Actually there were two endings, one that I lock her up on the fridge, and an ending where I give her a long lingering kiss and say goodbye. Thomas (Harris) wasn’t pleased with that. He did like the ending we used, but only after he saw the film twice. But we left open the option of the ending because we wanted to be certain of what we were doing. Ridley of course is a masterful director who didn’t want to make a bad movie and wasn’t going to be arbitrarily stupid. So he left open the possibility of shooting yet another ending in which Clarice and Hannibal are handcuffed together; he jumps into the river taking her down with him, and then in the depths of the river he unlocks her and lets go her hand. But when Thomas liked what we had, it was never shot.”

While making Titus last year,  he promised Jessica Lange that he would do Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf with her on Broadway.

Is that still going to happen?

“I like Jessica, but I don’t want to go back to the theatre. So it won’t happen.”

Is that his final answer?

“Yes.”

What is his relationship to technology, computers for instance?

“I took great delight in destroying a computer once, a laptop, because I couldn’t make it work. It kept letting me down, overheating, and giving me wrong information. So one day I just quietly snapped it in two and threw it away. 

“We live in such a crazy age; you can’t make a simple phone call any more. I talked to an operator on the phone. I said, ‘Are you real or are you just a mechanical voice?’ We’re turning into robots and it’s the same thing with acting. There are so many theories about film. You see those directors talking about other directors who are long dead, and what are they taking about.  What the hell is it all about? Honestly I don’t care. I’m too tired and jaded to care. I’m detached from it.”

Was he concerned  when the British press accused him of  first accepting a knighthood from the Queen  and then renouncing his British citizenship and becoming an American citizen?

“No I’m not concerned about that. All I’m concerned about is what I have for dinner tonight. The British tabloids said I was a traitor. I don’t realize we were at war with America.”

His mother accompanied him when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Is he close to her? 

“Sorry, that’s my personal life. Don’t talk about her.”

And his daughter and wife?

“Don’t talk about that.”

Two years ago he talked quite candidly about both.

“We see each other every couple of years. She’s got a good sense of humor. I see her when I go back to England. She’s thirty years old now, and we never did get to know each other very well. I like her sense of humor, she likes mine, and that’s it. I’m not close to anyone really.”

Not even his wife?

“In the last couple of years I’ve become more of a solitary man, and I’m very happy that way. My wife lives in London — we visit each other when I’m on locations, but my way of life has molded me that way. I live this kind of solitary life, which is lovely. 

“I live in California, I don’t need anything. I don’t want anything. I don’t want friendships, and it’s good. I’m free because friendships are a pain in the arse. People demand so much so I don’t have friends. I have a couple of acquaintances. We say hello. I don’t have much care in my life. I’m not a warm person, I’m quite cold, so I’m pretty tough, I don’t get close to people.”

No need for a relationship? 

“My relationship is with myself and my life. I’m fond of people but I don’t get close to them. I like animals. I use to play a role for a long time being Mr. Nice Guy, but I don’t anymore. A couple of things happened to me two years ago, and I decided to draw boundaries and get rid of a few old relationships. Now I’m free and that’s my life. That’s the way I am. I’m very restless. I like to do my own thing and get on with my life.”

Is he happy?

“I’d be a fool not to be happy with the life I live. I’m well paid for what I do. I live in hotels. I travel around the world. It suits my philosophy. I’m very happy. I get uptight sometimes. I get irritable, mood changes, but not severe ones. It sounds so New Age to say this, but I’m grateful to be alive and not underground.” 

AND A YEAR LATER

                               By Philip Berk

It was ironic watching fans besiege Anthony Hopkins at an early New York screening of his latest film, Red Dragon, in which once again he plays Hannibal Lecter.

The next day at the press junket I asked him if he enjoyed the adulation.

After all this is the man who a year ago told me, “I’ve become a solitary man, and I’m very happy that way. Life has molded me that way, so I live this kind of solitary life, which is lovely. I don’t need anything. I don’t want anything. I don’t want friendships, and it’s good.”

Surprisingly he answers, “I like it when they come over to me. I like it because they pay the box-office. They keep me in work. So it’s a selfish motive.  But it’s a pleasure to know they enjoy something I’ve done. I really appreciate it. I’m not Mick Jagger. If I’m in a restaurant and they ask for autographs, I always oblige. Why be rude to somebody who is paying to see you? I know some people don’t like it. I don’t know why. Any one who says they don’t want to be famous, any actor who says I am not interested in success or being famous, you have to ask yourself, ‘Why do it? You might as well act in a theatre with no audience.’ So anyone who says that to me is a liar anyway or weird.”

What prompted him to attend the screening?

“It was Brett Ratner’s idea. We were all having a meal, the director, Harvey Keitel, who’s in the film, and Dino de Laurentiis, the producer, and Brett suggested we go to the cinema to see the last half hour of the film, so we went. I was surprised by the response of the audience. They seemed to be enjoying it, and afterwards when I saw people outside they really enjoyed it.” 

Playing Hannibal Lecter a third time, how  much of a challenge was that?

“Before I accepted the role, I had told Brett, I’d like to play him not so campy, not so charming. I’d like to play him with more menace, more danger, and Brett agreed; so throughout the film he controlled a lot of the performance because it’s very easy to be seduced into doing cheap laughs. He was very much on the case all the time.” 

Was he concerned about playing a character twelve years younger than he was in Silence of the Lambs?

“Well I knew I couldn’t do that, but I did give a little thought  to how my voice had changed in the twelve years since I filmed the first one. I had seen Silence of the Lambs on TV about two weeks before we started filming. I hadn’t planned to watch it, but I was switching channels and there it was. I realized at once that my voice then was lighter, a slightly tenor voice. Maybe  I should aim for that, but I knew it would be adding too much of  strain because I am older, so I stayed with this voice but tried to reproduce the same almost monotone but with more menace and more danger, more hatred and more anger, but repressed anger and rage.”

Does he see any similarities between him and Lecter?

“He doesn’t like vegetables and I don’t like vegetables. But otherwise  the difference between us is vast. I don’t even like meat.  I don’t eat beef, a little bit of fish. Salmon. I like smoked salmon.  I’m not a wine connoisseur and I’m not a gourmand.  I don’t speak any languages; in fact I don’t know why they chose me to play him in the first place.” 

Other than acting what aspects of film making interest him?

“If you mean directing, I did it once but I wouldn’t do it again. But I’m very interested in what happens after a movie is made. I find putting the jigsaw pieces together interesting. You work on the film and then ten months later it has been completed. That does interest me, the editing. And I like watching them score the music. I love watching that process.  And I’m also very interested in the marketing of the movie, how they put it out. “

Does he make suggestions?

“I don’t, because it has nothing to do with me. I have only one job to do. I speak the lines, show up, wear funny hats, kill a few people, and they do the rest.”

What about pre-production. How early is he involved in the process?

“I learn the text first, the entire script as much as I can. It’s relatively easy for me especially if you work with a good director like Brett Ratner.”

Why a third stab at Hannibal?

“I must admit I had a mild skin deep reticence about playing him again because I had done two, but my agent said it would be good for me to do it again, and I said well, all right, but why?  He said, well, so I met Brett Ratner and Dino De Laurentiis, and they also said, ‘Well, Ted Tally is writing the script.’ Okay I said, well, that’s a good idea. And after reading the script I didn’t need much persuading.” 

Why does he find the editing process so interesting?

“Because I’m interested in the psychology of audiences. Watching the audience’s reaction last night, I was thinking, everyone is screaming and cheering. It’s an interesting phenomenon of human behavior. 

“When we watch a movie we put ourselves into a hypnotic trance voluntarily,  we suspend our disbelief. Everyone quietens down, the popcorn goes away, and we drift into a state of mild hypnosis.  People are frightened or they laugh or they cry or whatever, and at the end we all come back to reality. I find that really fascinating. 

“I sat there last night and I thought isn’t this weird? They know this isn’t real and yet for those two hours they believe it is real.  Meanwhile there’s a big orchestra playing in the background. How can it be possible that a man is shot to death and at the same time there’s an orchestra playing full blast music that  frightens us and creates anticipation. It really is fascinating when you think of it.”

Equally fascinating for me is how communicative he’s become. 

A year ago at his press conference he was humorless, taciturn, and eager to get the interview over with

This time he’s not only garrulous, he seems to be enjoying himself, even willing to talk about his own self discovery.

What has he found out about himself?

“I met somebody recently, I don’t visit him as a client, but he’s a kind of psychologist, and he said to me, ‘I’m really surprised to meet you because you seem so open and enjoying yourself, and yet I read interviews where you put yourself down all the time. Why do you do that?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know.’ And he said, ‘It’s because you want to get the boot in first.’ And I said, ‘Yah, I suppose I do.’ And he said, ‘Why? That’s exactly like a fraud. You feel like a fraud?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’ ‘What else do you feel like?’ And I said, ‘I feel like a thief. I don’t deserve any of this.’ And he said, ‘Okay then, turn it around. Be the best fraud. Be the best thief, and enjoy it because we all feel fraudulent. Don’t hide it. Don’t bury yourself. Don’t cover yourself up, because it’s anti-life. Enjoy it. Enjoy yourself.’  And he got to me.  And later he phoned  to ask me, ‘Are you still enjoying being a good thief, a good fraud?’ And I said. ‘Yeah.’ 

“So I enjoy being a fraud. I’m a happy fraud. We’re all frauds.”

Three years ago he threatened retirement. What changed his mind?

“I was in Rome making Titus. It was a long shoot. Five months. I was going through something in my personal life at the time. I was tired and I said, ‘God I want a long holiday. I don’t care if I don’t work for some time. I’d like a vacation.’ Then somebody from the Daily Mail phoned me and said. ‘We hear you’re retiring?’ And I said, ‘Well I don’t know where you hear that.’ ‘Well we heard it.’ And I said, ‘Well you are the arbiters of truth. Obviously you know more than I do; so yeah I’m retiring.’ That’s how I deal with the British press. I tell them lies. Anything they want. After all they know the truth.”

Does he ever feel the need for relationships? 

“My relationship is with myself and my life. I’m fond of people but I don’t get close to them. I like animals. I use to play a role for a long time being Mr. Nice Guy, but I don’t anymore. A couple of things happened to me three years ago, and I decided to draw boundaries and get rid of a few old relationships. Now I’m free and that’s my life. That’s the way I am. I’m very restless. I like to do my own thing and get on with my life.”

Where does his self deprecating attitude come from?

“Probably from my father. He was very down to earth. I remember doing a play with Joan Plowright at the National Theatre. My father was a self educated man, meat and potatoes guy. He was a baker. He worked hard all his life, and one night he and my mother came backstage to the dressing room, and I said, ‘What do you think?’ ‘Yes it’s good,’ he replied.  My mother of course was over the moon about it as mothers always are. Knock on the door and in comes Laurence Olivier. At the time Joan Plowright was married to him. My mother went a funny color,  and my father took out a cigarette and started smoking. I said ‘This is Sir Laurence Olivier and this is my parents, Mr. Hopkins, Mrs. Hopkins. And Sir Laurence asks, ‘What do you think of the play?’ and my father answers, ‘I’ll give it two weeks, that’s about it.’ Then my father says, ‘How old are you now?’ and Olivier says, ‘I was born in 1907.’ And my father says, ‘I am the same age as you, but we’re going down the hill now, aren’t we?’ Afterwards my mother said, ‘How could you say that? That’s Laurence Olivier!’ And he said, ‘Well he breathes oxygen just like me, doesn’t he? 

“So I have two epiphanies in my life, one is the wonderful love I had for my father because he didn’t give a hoot. And the other is how proud he was that I became successful. He lived long enough to see that. So that’s why I have that attitude. When people want to talk about scenes and this and that, I think, ‘Come on, give us a break. Just get up and do it.”

In spite of these warm memories of his father I recall him describing a different childhood ten years ago.

“So is he happy now?

“I’d be a fool not to be happy with the life I live. I’m well paid for what I do. I live in hotels. I travel around the world. It suits my philosophy. I’m very happy. I get uptight sometimes. I get irritable, mood changes, but not severe ones. It sounds so New Age to say this, but I’m grateful to be alive and not underground.” 

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