Anthony Hopkins

FilmCatcher, "Slipstream" interview with Anthony Hopkins

YMCA in Port Talbot

 05.05.08 - Hopkins returned to his acting roots at the YMCA in Port Talbot.

BBC Interview - Video and text

Jonathan Ross, BBC One, November 9, 2007

Darn, no BBC One for fans in the US. Hopefully it finds its way to BBC America. Here are some excerpts from sites on the net.

My Park Magazine, UK, November 9, 2007
British acting legend and Academy award-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins joins Jonathan Ross for a rare and exclusive chat show appearance in tonight's edition of Friday Night With Jonathan Ross on BBC One.

Sir Anthony treats the audience to his great range of comedic impressions including Tommy Cooper and Ray Winstone and says he drew on the demons of his past when creating his latest screen role in animation adventure drama Beowulf: "I played him as a drunken Welsh king, back to my old days."

He talks about his ambitions when young: "My father used to say God knows what's going to happen to him ... I went to Richard Burton's house for an autograph and I thought I want to be like that, I want to get away, be famous."
And about his discontent, he says: "I was never happy in the theatre, never comfortable, my attention span was too short – two days!"

About his first response to his Oscar-winning portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs: "I thought it was a children's story at first. I knew it was going to be a good one, I knew how to play the guy on the first reading."

He also talks about being made a knight: "Her Majesty said very intimately 'are you busy? Are you working?', it was a very informal ceremony."

And he talks about how acting has changed: "There are some wonderful actors around, I think it's all about celebrity now ... fashion, girls, youth ... it's much faster, a little bit overwhelming."

Hermit
And on how his life has changed: "I live a hermit's life, I don't know any actors. I don't ever feel like part of the acting business, which is liberating because I don't get caught up in it. Young actors ask me today how to succeed, I say I don't know, there's a lot of luck. "I'm getting more choosy now, I'm enjoying it more now than I've ever done. I think I'm still around, and they still want me, so that's ok. I live my life and don't think about acting at all, it doesn't preoccupy me any more."

He is looking forward to celebrating his 70th birthday later this year: "I'm going down to Wales for my birthday. My wife won't tell me what the party's going to be like, I'm going to meet all my little girlfriends from 65 years ago."

And he is about to make his directorial debut with Slipstream: " I set out to make people angry, an anti-movie, like a dream."

The Independent, Pandora, By Henry Deedes, November 13, 2007

I do hope that impending old age isn't beginning to zap away at Sir Anthony Hopkins's enthusiasm.
Making a rare chat show appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross last week, the 69-year-old Oscar-winner said: "I live my life and don't think about acting at all. It doesn't preoccupy me any more."

A case in point appears to be his latest film Beowulf. At the film's London premiere on Sunday, Hopkins happily told reporters that not only had he not read the book, but he had only bothered to look at the parts of the script featuring his character, Hrothgar. "No. I never read the book," he said. "The script is good but I have to admit I only read part of it – I only read my part."

When asked about the large chunks of his precious work that Hopkins opted to skim over, the film's scriptwriter Roger Avary replied diplomatically: " With Sir Anthony, I don't question his methods. He has earned his keep.

A few words with Anthony Hopkins, Frank Lovece, Newsday, 12:00AM CST on Monday, November 5, 2007

I found this on the Dallas News website.

Tony Hopkins – hey, that's how he introduces himself – was once just one more respected British actor with more cachet than marquee. Then came The Silence of the Lambs (1991), for which he won an Academy Award, thrusting him into the stratosphere for his portrayal of mastermind serial killer Hannibal Lecter – later named the American Film Institute's No. 1 movie villain. He earned Oscar nominations for The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997). He spoke about the nonlinear art film Slipstream, his second movie as a director.

You once said something about having a surreal vision standing at the edge of the Pacific, like the ocean was talking to you.

That's my tequila days! I did have an experience, years ago [that influenced the creation of Slipstream]. We were filming [the 1997 survivalist drama] The Edge. Now, I have a herniated disc, sixth and seventh vertebrae, and they have me on muscle relaxants, which is not good if you're going into a pretty cold lake. I had a wet suit on, and when I came out, the paramedic guy standing by asked me, "Are you cold?" I said, "No." He felt my skin and said, "You feel cold. We'd better check." So I went into the trailer and sat there, and I felt warm, and suddenly I felt very odd. I felt like my mind started going. I got mixed up with time, and I couldn't think. My blood pressure had dropped, and the doctor told me I had hypothermia. So I was out for a day or two. That's why I wrote Slipstream the way I did – because of that amnesia.

You've played both Hannibal Lecter and Richard Nixon. Who's the worse villain?

Oh, Lecter. No, Nixon wasn't a villain; he was just a very screwed-up man. I remember watching [Laurence] Olivier's Richard III. I worked with Olivier, and he said something interesting – that the thing about villains is ... they walk the tightrope.

Parade Magazine, October 28, 2007

Read the interview “In Step With...Anthony Hopkins” by James Brady and check out the photos.

OK-Magazine, 10/26/07

Short, but interesting.

How has she pushed his boundaries?


“Just before we got married, my wife said ‘I’d like you to paint for the wedding some party favors,’” the 69-year-old Oscar winner says, sipping tea at The Regency Hotel in NYC. “I said ‘you want me to dance on the tables?’ and she said ‘no, I want you to do some paintings.’ I said ‘I can’t paint.’ She said ‘I’ve seen your scripts. I see you painting all the time. You do little drawings.’ I said ‘how many do you want?’ ‘75.’ She said ‘I want you to paint some acrylics.’ I said ‘I don’t have any training.’ She said ‘paint.’ I did 75 acrylics."



Why do they make a good couple? “Because I love her, that’s why.”

“Private Sessions” on A&E, October 28, 2007

Here's a clip:

Sir Anthony Hopkins, on A&E’s Private Sessions, gets a surprise from Alec Baldwin!

WNYC Pubic Radio, “The Leonard Lopate Show”, 10/26/07

Anthony Hopkins on "Slipstream"

Academy Award-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins has played a faithful butler, a disgraced president, and a brilliant serial killer; but his latest film draws its inspiration from his own life. He talks to Leonard about writing, directing, starring, and composing the score for "Slipstream," a dark comedy about an aging screenwriter whose worlds collide when his fictional characters start to turn up in his real life.