Sixty years after he first established himself as one of Britain’s most promising young actors at the National Theatre under the auspices of Sir Lawrence Olivier, Sir Anthony Hopkins has won the Legend Award at British GQ’s 2021 Men Of The Year Awards. He will be honoured this Wednesday at the 24th annual GQ Men Of The Year awards at the Tate Modern, in association with Boss.
The award comes in recognition of Hopkins’ tireless and brilliant work on stage and on screen. Though he’s best known for playing the devoted butler Stevens in The Remains Of The Day and the serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs and its sequels, his recent career has shown no signs of slowing down at all. Following a starring role in two seasons of HBO’s Westworld, Hopkins earned Oscar nominations for The Two Popes, playing emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, and The Father, as an elderly man with dementia. He won his second Best Actor award – by his own admission, unexpectedly – for the latter earlier this year, becoming the oldest winner ever in doing so, at 83, and adding to his two Emmys and four Baftas.
In an interview with GQ associate editor Stuart McGurk ahead of the ceremony, Hopkins talked about his first day playing the role of Lecter, his opinion on acting schools, his decision to move to work in America in the 1970s, and much more. The full interview can be found in British GQ’s October issue, out on 2 September; here are some of the highlights…
On his Bafta and Oscar wins
“We were in Wales when the Bafta happened. I wasn’t asked to make any prepared speech in case I won, so I took it that it would go to Chadwick Boseman. I didn’t really want to watch the awards, because I have better things to do. Then suddenly, in the next room, I heard this scream. My wife and her friends said, ‘You won the Bafta!’ Then I went to where my father is buried, just to visit his grave and see an old friend of mine. And it was on the Sunday evening, we’re staying in this hotel [when the Oscars took place]. The Academy had stipulated that the nominees would have to go to either London or Dublin and, at my age, the risk of Covid and all that, I had no intention of going. I went to bed, then at about five o’clock in the morning, my buzzer went off on my phone. My agent said, ‘Tony, you’ve just got the second Oscar!’ I couldn’t believe it. We were all up and celebrating. So then I made a little speech and a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, sadly gone so young in his life.”
On leaving England for America in the 1970s
“I’d felt like I was on the run. I was at the National Theatre, I had a great time and I was given great opportunities by people such as [Laurence] Olivier. But there was something in me that wasn’t settled. I couldn’t fit in somehow, so I scarpered. I did the big skedaddle. And when I left in 1973 I was told I’d never work again. My agent at the time. He said, ‘Tony, what are you doing?’ I was a rebel, I was a fighter and I was insufferably dogmatic about certain things. But those demons are long gone. Maybe I was a bit of a troubled character. But I’m old now: I’d be stupid to walk around full of nettles and devils in me. We’re not here for long. But the last decade or so it’s been a wonderful feeling of freedom and just doing the job and showing up.”
On landing the role of Hannibal Lecter
“I know there was some doubt with a few people, because on the Sunday before the first reading, I was taken out to dinner by Jonathan Demme, with three or four producers and their wives, and I remember a producer called Ken Utt. He said, ‘It’s gonna be interesting tomorrow, Tony. Let’s see how you go.’ I know he was thinking, ‘Why did they cast this guy?’ Anyway, next morning we started the reading and we came to the scene with Jodie Foster, and I said [adopting perfect Lecter voice], ‘Good morning,’ you know? ‘You’re not real FBI, are you?’ and I remember Kenny uttered, ‘My God.’ I knew that I got it. I remember I had a bit of an argument with the wardrobe designer because he’d put me in a baggy orange jumpsuit. I said, ‘No. I want a slimline suit. Lecter would have paid somebody,’ I said.
On acting schools
“Don’t waste your money. They’re failed actors that set themselves up as gurus. That’s one of the reasons I left the National Theatre – we had a particular director who was very picky. And that’s one of the reasons that I would be angry. This was in my days of raging paranoia and I warned one director, ‘You ever speak to me like that again I’ll punch your face in.’ Obviously, I don’t do that any more. There’s one very well-known actor with an acting class here in Los Angeles and he’s the star of the show! And all these other students sitting around paying their fees and he’s the star! He’s on stage with them, interrupting them, being rude to them. No, you don’t do that.”
Read the full interview in the October issue of British GQ and online on 2 September.
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