Anthony Hopkins in ‘Father’
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS
British actor Anthony Hopkins, 85, rarely gives interviews. But recently, however, he decided to meet with journalists and during the conversation he admitted that most of his life was like a dream.
One of Hopkins’ most prominent roles was that of serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The actor embodied this image so much that he was recognized as “the greatest among the villains of the cinema.”
To portray the serial killer as believably as possible, Hopkins studied investigative materials on the most brutal crimes and visited prisons. And the watchful, unblinking gaze was borrowed from the maniacal Charles Manson.
“When you look directly into the lens, I don’t fully understand who you are looking at: Hopkins or Hannibal Lecter himself, this look penetrates the hidden corners of the soul,” Takashi Fujimoto, the operator of the film The Silence of the Lambs, shares his impressions.
The role in The Silence of the Lambs earned Hopkins his first Oscar, and in 2020 the actor received a second statuette for his leading role in the film Father. By the way, he later became the oldest winner of the award: he had just turned 83 shortly before.
Hopkins was not an exemplary family man. He paid no attention to the family and, after the birth of his daughter Abigail, he generally went off with another woman.
In the second marriage, the actor drinks. But one case helped alcohol addiction: in 1975, Anthony woke up in a roadside hotel on the other side of the country, after which he realized that there was a limit to everything and he had to stop drinking. And now, for 48 years, he has led a sober lifestyle and even tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to improve relations with his daughter.
“People break up, families fall apart, life goes on. People make decisions. And I don’t care which one. You don’t have to love your family. Children do not love their parents. You don’t have to love each other. Yes it’s hard. Because life is hard, ”she said during an interview. And this statement upset Abigail very much.
Recently, the actor was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome (a type of autism). This is how Hopkins explains the complex nature of it.
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