“How insidious it is”: Anthony Hopkins’ lifelong hatred of the place he calls home
Anthony Hopkins has never fallen out of love with movies, but he has no nostalgia for the industry that creates them.
Let’s be real, there has never been an actor quite like Sir Anthony Hopkins, as his career has been nothing if not unorthodox. While most A-listers achieved notoriety at a young age, Hopkins struggled to gain meaningful parts early on in his career and went through a battle with alcoholism that threatened to end his ambitions altogether.
Hopkins was always praised by his fellow actors and would eventually be cast by major directors like George Romero and David Lynch. Ironically, given that Hopkins was known for his charming professionalism in real life, he ended up gaining a tremendous amount of fame for his performance as the ruthless serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, which both won him the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ and became the first horror film to ever win the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’.
Hopkins achieved acclaim towards the middle point of his career, and has pretty much never stopped acting since; although he appears in many films each year, some of which fall under the radar, he has never been doubted for his abilities. In addition to making a comeback on television on HBO’s Westworld, he became the oldest actor to ever win ‘Best Actor’ at the Oscars when he earned his second trophy in the category for his heartbreaking performance as an old man with dementia in The Father.
Given that Hopkins has always felt like an outsider who did not come from a position of privilege, he’s tended to be more candid when discussing his thoughts on the industry. Unsurprisingly, the two-time Academy Award winner had some scathing indictments for what it was like to be employed by a business filled with narcissists.
“Look at Hollywood, how insidious it is!” Hopkins said. “Look how people feel entitled to this, that and the other, and they can only be surrounded by ‘yes’ people. It’s a poisonous, toxic atmosphere, and I don’t want to be surrounded by people like that. The ‘luvvie’ and the kissing cheeks, I can’t stand it. There’s so much hypocrisy, and they know nothing.”
Any interview with Hopkins would reveal that he has a tremendous sense-of-humour, but that he’s also quite candid when discussing the realities of the business. When looking back at his career, Hopkins has worked on such a wide variety of projects that he has first-hand experience with how vain the industry has become. As with many creatives, he tends to be an artist who hates being told what to do; for someone who has practised acting for as long as he has, it would surely grow frustrating to be given “advice” by those who are only in it for the profits.
While some may find it disheartening to hear Hopkins offer such a brutal assessment of Hollywood, which still dominated the film industry, it should be noted that he has not given up working… Hopkins may be 88-years-old, but he still has a robust filmography that grows each year.
It was just shortly after The Father that he gave another one of his most moving performances ever in James Gray’s Armageddon Time, and an upcoming role in the new Guy Ritchie action comedy would suggest Hopkins is allowing himself to have fun.
