Antony Hopkins on why Edward Norton is a “brilliant, remarkable actor”
With two Academy Awards for ‘Best Actor’ to his name and status as one of the United Kingdom’s greatest-ever actors, Anthony Hopkins is more qualified than most to pass judgment on those who have what it takes to achieve greatness in their own right.
If anything, he was destined for big things from the start after being taken under the wing of Laurence Olivier during his early years treading the boards, and Hopkins has since gone on to work with a cavalcade of the most incredible talents to grace either screen or stage.
At various points during his career, he’s shared the screen with Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Gary Oldman, Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, and literally dozens upon dozens more, so he’s gained first-hand experience watching top-tier talents up close across multiple generations.
Don’t let his fandom of Michael Bay and enthusiasm at getting blown up in a Transformers sequel detract from the fact Hopkins has been around the block several times over, and as a result, he knows an incredible actor when he sees one. After first catching wind of a rising star, it was only a matter of years before he got to share screen time with them, and it came when he reprised his signature role for a third time.
As a whole, Red Dragon was such a drastic step down from The Silence of the Lambs that even Hannibal Lecter himself admitted it was a mistake to keep returning to the well, but at least it gave him the opportunity to get the measure of Edward Norton. The actor played Will Graham in the serviceable-if-unspectacular prequel, leading Hopkins to describe him as “a remarkable actor”.
“I’d first seen him in Primal Fear and thought he was brilliant in it,” he told Venice. “People talk about chemistry and all that. Really, if an actor shows up, knows his lines, that’s all you need.” With Lecter well established as a cultural icon, it would have been a daunting prospect for any actor to go toe-to-toe with the formidable cannibalistic killer.
What impressed Hopkins the most was the way Norton approached the character, though, with the younger performer opting to forego any sense of outward confidence. “I liked working with Ed because he made the decision to play Will Graham very passive,” he continued before offering an example through the scene where Graham removes his jacket after speaking to Lecter to reveal he’d been soaked in sweat the entire time.
It was a decision made off-the-cuff that convinced Hopkins he’d found a worthy adversary because Norton was willing to go the extra mile to pretend he wasn’t frightened even in the slightest when Graham faced off against Lecter, only to let the audience know immediately afterwards that he was shitting himself.
