Anthony Hopkins

Sighting at Locarno

These two always look good!

Hopkins to unveil Tommy Cooper statue

Hopkins, a lifelong Tommy Cooper fan, became a patron of the Tommy Cooper Society last year. A 9 foot bronze statue of Cooper will soon be unveiled alongside a new Walk of Fame on the Twyn, opposite Caerphilly Castle, Wales. Organizers asked Hopkins if he would “send some suitable words for the occasion”. Hopkins replied that he would be delighted to unveil the statue in person. Looks like the statue completion by sculptor James Done and its unveiling is going to coincide with Sir Tony’s 70th birthday, which is pretty convenient since he will be celebrating in Port Talbot.

Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Collectors Edition

Just in time for Halloween! Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, The Collector’s edition is scheduled for release October 2, 2007. This special edition includes a remastered anamorphic widescreen presentation, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track, a video introduction and audio commentary by Francis Ford Coppola, a documentary, deleted scenes, the trailer and more. A Blu-ray edition will also be available.

Hopkins is such a sexy Van Helsing.

12/31/07

Anthony Hopkins will be celebrating his 70th birthday in his hometown, Margam, on the outskirts of Port Talbot, South Wales. Childhood friends he hasn’t seen in 65 years are on the invite list. "It's my wife's idea," he laughed, it's a way of bringing things full circle."

All I can say is, when it comes to Hopkins, 70 is definitely just a number. With 4 films out this year and several projects in pre-production for 2008, along with painting and composing…this dude is full steam ahead. When I see him in television interviews, it is clear that the guy just can’t sit still…I like that! Earlier this year on Jay Leno he said “I have the attention span of a hummingbird”…yup, I get that! Keep rocking Sir Tony.

"Shortcut To Happiness"

Way back in 2001 a film wrapped. It was a modern-day remake of the classic story “The Devil and Daniel Webster”. Alec Baldwin is Jabez Stone, who sells his soul to Satan (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in return for a successful literary career. When it is time for Jabez to “pay up”, he asks powerful attorney Daniel Webster (Anthony Hopkins) to help him weasel out of the deal. Oh, and the film was Alec Baldwin’s directorial debut.

Like so much in Hollywood, what is on the screen isn’t as good as what is going on behind the scenes so the plot of how this film finally got finished and released is way better than a ticket to the flick. The production, overseen by producer David Glasser had financial difficulties and during post-production the FBI seized the investors’ assets and the film…due to alleged bank fraud. Baldwin had already butted heads over creative differences and after the FBI bust, he had his name removed from the directing credit and replaced with the pseudonym "Harry Kirkpatrick". Glasser partnered with producer Bob Yari and bought the film from bankruptcy court back in 2003. In 2006, in order to complete post-production, another company, owned by Yari, made it a comedy, finished the film, changed the title to “Shortcut To Happiness”, and it was finally released on Friday, July 13, 2007…a very limited release...6 cities-Las Vegas, Rochester, Fort Myers, Columbus, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The DVD release will soon follow.

To make the behind the scenes drama even more entertaining, Baldwin urged fans to boycott the film saying it was “unrecognizable”. Poor Alec, he has been having a really bad year.

As for me, since it wasn’t released in New York, I’ll have to check it out in the DVD release…after all, if Hopkins is in it, I’m watching it. Sorry Alec.

Inside The Actors Studio

See Anthony Hopkins on Bravo’s longest running series, “Inside The Actors Studio” on October 29, 2007. It wasn’t clear if it was a new episode or a repeat of his earlier appearance on the program. I’ll keep looking for info on this.
Meanwhile, surf to the programs episode guide featuring Hopkins.

British Film Forever

British Film Forever is a 7-part primetime series for BBC2. Jessica Hynes (Shaun Of The Dead) hosts the series which highlights films, stars and what they reveal about British culture. Anthony Hopkins is one of over 200 exclusive interviews from actors and directors that will be part of this special season celebrating the UK’s film industry on BBC2.

The series is being made with the support of the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council.

I checked to see if it is on BBC America, it isn’t. Perhaps, after the series has its full first run on BBC2, it will be on BBC America.

UPDATE:

Bullets, Bombs and Bridges: The Story of the War Film
is the episode that features an original Anthony Hopkins interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishfilm/summer/documentary/war.shtml

Dreamscapes

In case you didn’t know, Anthony Hopkins paints. Recently (June 30 – July 10, 2007), an exhibition of his work, named “Dreamscapes”, was presented at the MW Gallery in Aspen, Colorado. Art dealer Robert Casterline describes Hopkins’ work as “wild and vibrant”, with subjects that include abstract landscapes, flowers and “surrealistic faces that are vaguely suggestive of the horror of The Silence of the Lambs. The works are priced at $4,000 - $20,000.

Here is a link to artwork: http://www.anthonyhopkinsart.com/

Hopkins quotes about painting:

“I’d be sitting in my trailer learning lines and doodling on the scripts and people would say, ‘Hey, can I have that?’”

“The landscapes are all stored in my memory, I just have to find a way to release it.”

“I don’t care about the rules because I don’t know about the rules.”

Locarno Film Festival

Anthony Hopkins, who wrote, directed and stars in “Slipstream” was present for the screening in its international premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 3, 2007.

His wife Stella, who also stars in the film and co-star Christian Slater joined Hopkins. The film is playing in competition.

Check out the Locarno Film Festival website for more pictures.

"Beowulf" bits

Brendan Gleeson, better known as “Mad Eye Moody” from Harry Potter films is Wiglaf in Robert Zemeckis’s “Beowulf”. He comments, on the cutting edge motion capture techniques, “I got a real buzz out of that”, “You’re standing there with Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich and Ray Winstone, and youre all wearing reavealing, embarrassing leotards with dots all over them, and you do your scene together two or three times, and that’s it.”

Here is a picture I found on www.a-lohman.com of Angelina Jolie who plays Grendel’s mother, on the set of the film donning the gear needed to capture the actors motion.