Anthony Hopkins has said that the role of Hannibal Lecter remains “one of the best parts I’ve ever read”.
The actor won an Oscar for his portrayal of the cannibalistic serial killer in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, in which he starred opposite Jodie Foster.
In a new interview with People, the 86-year-old reminisced about first receiving the script from his agent, which happened while he was appearing on stage in London in M. Butterfly.
“He said, ‘I want you to read this’. I said, ‘Is it an offer?’. He said, ‘It’s a film with Jodie Foster called The Silence of the Lambs’. I thought it was a children’s story,” Hopkins remembered.
“So I opened it. I sat in the dressing room in the theatre, and I read through the first scene of Lecter. I said, ‘Is this an offer?’ He said, ‘I’m not sure.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to read anymore, because this is one of the best parts I’ve ever read.’”
“I knew how to play the part,” he continued. “I do have an instinct about these roles. I could understand Lecter. I could understand the mystery of the man, the loner, the isolated voice in the dark, the man at the top of the stairs who’s not really there.”
Hopkins is not one to mind his words. Last summer, his comments about appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe caused a stir when he described green acting as “pointless”.
The Welsh actor first joined the Marvel world via Thor, first appearing in Kenneth Branagh’s directed movie in 2011.
Playing Odin, the father of the titular character (who is portrayed by Chris Hemsworth), he also appeared in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World and 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok.
Speaking about his time in the Marvel films, Hopkins said: “They put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne; shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”
In response to those comments, Angela Bassett, who plays Ramonda in the Black Panther films, said she was “sorry for him”, adding that for the films in which she has appeared, the world was much more practical and physical than Hopkins described.