Anthony Hopkins Confesses: 'It's Just a Job'
By Jill Serjeant
Reuters, August 21, 2001
***Interview done on July 17***
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sir Anthony Hopkins lets out a long, long sigh. "So ...," he said. "Are we done?"
Hopkins, the Oscar-winning actor who dismisses his work as "just a job," was doing yet another round of interviews, this time to promote two special edition DVDs of his most infamous screen creation -- the spine-chilling, flesh-eating gourmet Hannibal Lecter.
Assistants tiptoe around discreetly, steering him gently from one hushed room to the next. He appears faintly bored, mildly amused and occasionally testy -- as if he could eat them all for dinner.
Hopkins has long been a major player in the less-is-more school of acting, stealing a scene with silence or an unblinking blue-eyed stare. At 63, he has reached a state of relaxed detachment in tune with the mellow music of his Welsh voice.
"I don't have any expectations any more. I never did have big expectations. I am very much surprised that I am in this position. I am not cynical, but I am wary. When people say, 'We are very excited by this,' I say, 'Yeah, yeah.' I don't take it to heart," Hopkins told Reuters in an interview.
The new DVD versions of Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal (released Aug. 21) celebrate the phenomenon that earned Hopkins the epithet of "the most feared man in America."
They contain several hours of extras, an alternate ending to Hannibal and interviews with Hopkins, Silence co-star Jodie Foster and Hannibal director Ridley Scott.
The accolades appear to cut little ice with Hopkins, even though he won an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs.
"The part came along. It was successful. If it works, fine. If not, on to the next," he shrugged softly.
HARDLY BRAIN SURGERY
The rest of Hollywood is playing a frantic guessing game over whether Hopkins will sign up for a possible third outing as Hannibal in Red Dragon, an adaptation of Thomas Harris' 1981 crime thriller that first introduced the character to readers.
Hopkins doesn't give a clue. "I don't know, I've no idea. I don't give it any thought. If the script is there and it is presented to me ... but it would have to be a really good script," he said.
Hopkins has played Richard Nixon, Adolf Hitler, Pablo Picasso, John Quincy Adams, British spy Guy Burgess and an assortment of self-effacing butlers, university professors and doctors -- not to mention a British stage career encompassing almost every Shakespearean lead.
But he describes acting as "hardly brain surgery" and has no time for actors who wax lyrical about their "craft."
"I show up in the morning, go to the dressing room, sometimes they dab a bit of makeup on my face for God knows what reason, comb my hair, what's left of it, go on set, and they say action, that's it and I go home," Hopkins said.
"I always have a coffee (Hopkins gave up drink 25 years ago) and we have a laugh and a talk, but I don't take it at all seriously. I don't want to ever be seen taking it seriously.
"I heard an actor the other day saying with all honesty 'I'm just a story teller' and I thought, give me a break. Come on be honest, it's because you like being famous, you like the work, the money. I don't swallow all that craft stuff," he said scornfully.
Hopkins gave up Method acting -- the dig deep into your soul approach -- years ago, saying it got him "all tangled up" and instead concentrates his energies on learning his lines, reading the script over and over again "to make doubly sure that I know my part perfectly."
TAKING IT EASY
If Hopkins' most memorable roles have been loners like the butler in Remains of the Day or men fighting inner demons like Captain Bligh in The Bounty, it is probably because he is something of a complex loner himself.
He has made his home in California, living alone in the upscale beach community of Pacific Palisades while his British wife of 28 years, Jenni, lives in London. He loves to walk on the beach, takes long car rides alone "wherever my fancy takes me" and plays the piano with passion and skill.
He angered the British press by deciding to become an American citizen last year, despite being honored with a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 1993, and then accepting an invitation to become the honorary mayor of Pacific Palisades.
He lives in a city where movie stars are treated like royalty, yet takes no pleasure in the celebrity status his career and his wealth affords him.
"I have no part in that at all. I live on the coast. I very rarely go out to restaurants with movie actors. I don't have one single friend who is an actor. I don't go to the parties.
"I'm not a recluse," he added hastily. "I just chose to live here because I like it. I came here many years ago and was enamored of it. It's beautiful. I like the climate."
Famous for being restless, he works with the energy of a man half his age, having made three more movies since Hannibal, but insists, "I'm just taking life easy."
Hopkins has made almost 100 movies or TV films but says he has no favorites.
"I hardly ever watch them anyway. I'll go to a premiere, but that's it. Once it's done, it's done. I hope the audience likes it and if they don't, farewell. I don't care."
*********
PHOTO CAPTION: Sir Anthony Hopkins lets out a long, long sigh. 'So ...,' he said. 'Are we done?' Hopkins, the Oscar-winning actor who dismisses his work as 'just a job,' was doing yet another round of interviews, this time to promote two special edition DVDs of his most infamous screen creation -- the spine-chilling, flesh-eating gourmet Hannibal Lecter. Hopkins poses for his upcoming release of 'The Silence of the Lambs' and 'Hannibal' DVDs, July 17, 2001 in Santa Monica. Both DVDs are scheduled for U.S. release August 21, 2001. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)
Flatbroke's Note
Please note that although this article was published on August 21, the interview itself was given on July 17. By the time it was published, the Red Dragon info was dated.
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