Why Anthony Hopkins thought Mel Gibson was “in danger of blowing” his career
He may not have become a household name until he won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’. However, Anthony Hopkins was already celebrated by those in the know as one of his generation’s finest actors long before he became an icon as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Working steadily since the mid-1960s on stage and screen, he had the added benefit of Laurence Olivier as his mentor after becoming his understudy during the earliest years of his career. One of the downsides that came with shadowing an all-time great was that he eventually succumbed to very similar drinking habits.
Richard Harris may have been left furious by Michael Caine’s assertion that all of the United Kingdom’s most notable thespians of the time loved to pack away as much booze as possible. Still, it’s hard to argue with the latter’s opinion, considering Hopkins and Olivier were known to be fond of a tipple, as were the likes of Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole, Terence Stamp, and Oliver Reed.
Hopkins struggled with alcoholism for a number of years, but after deciding enough was enough, he quit in 1975 and hasn’t touched a drop since. That doesn’t mean he can’t spot the tell-tale signs from a mile away, though, something that left him increasingly concerned with Mel Gibson’s chances of maximising his undeniable potential when they worked together on a film that also featured Olivier.
As well as that heavyweight trio, Roger Donaldson’s 1984 historical drama The Bounty counted Daniel Day-Lewis, Bernard Hill, Liam Neeson, John Sessions, Neil Morrissey, and Dexter Fletcher among its ensemble. It was the perfect motley crew for a seafaring epic inspired by one of the most famous mutinies of all.
The film was shot almost entirely on location, and with such a sprawling number of actors involved, there was plenty of downtime to be had. As a result, Gibson would more often than not spend his nights getting hammered, which on one occasion resulted in a bar brawl that forced the next day’s shooting to capture only one side of his face due to the swelling from the fisticuffs.
Hopkins enjoyed collaborating with the fast-rising star, but he nonetheless wished he’d get his act together before his habit of getting into drink-fuelled trouble derailed his career. “Mel is a wonderful, wonderful fellow with a marvellous future,” he said. “He’s already something of a superstar, but he’s in danger of blowing it unless he takes hold of himself.”
Gibson’s constant struggles with alcoholism didn’t prevent him from becoming one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and staying that way for decades. Still, it did light the touchpaper on his downfall when he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2006, with his subsequent outburst at a police officer the exact moment his career imploded. That was more than 20 years after The Bounty, but even then, Hopkins could see the perils that potentially lay ahead.
