“He sounds exactly like a dog”: Anthony Hopkin’s special method to prep for intense scenes
If there’s one actor who knows a thing or two about intensity, it’s Anthony Hopkins. The adored knight of the realm might be a cuddly old man these days, but at his peak, he could be absolutely terrifying. His role as Hannibal Lecter is a great example of this, but there are also his performances in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Rite, and the TV show Westworld to consider. He was also an accomplished stage actor before hitting big on screen.
One of his lesser-known film appearances came in the 2007 legal thriller Fracture. Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, an engineer who shoots his wife after discovering she’s cheating on him. It’s considered an open-and-shut case for young prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), but as the trial progresses, it becomes apparent that things are much more complicated.
Getting into the mindset of any character is a tough ask, let alone one who is pushed to such extremes. Gosling was asked by Collider how the legendary Welshman gets into the character, which led to this peculiar anecdote. “I don’t know if I can explain it,” he said. “I don’t think Anthony [can cope] when things get too serious and he doesn’t like when people start taking everything so seriously and I’m certainly a victim of that. So if everything got a little too important, he would start barking. And the thing about when he barks, it’s like everything he does in his life, he does it great. He sounds exactly like a dog. You can just about tell the breed.”
Just picture that for a second. Anthony Hopkins, one of the greatest actors of all time, a man with over 50 acting awards to his name, barking like a dog in a room full of people. Not just any dog, either. A specific breed of dog depending on whatever mood takes him. Hollywood is a strange place and, with that revelation, it just got a whole lot stranger.
A young Gosling was initially nervous about working with such an iconic co-star – until he learned about the whole barking thing, probably – and had those anxieties confirmed when they first met. “Anthony is intimidating for different reasons than I thought,” he revealed. “He’s so good. In a way, he’s the warmest… a really loving guy, and he’s so prolific. He paints, he’s a composer, he directs and he’s about to go direct a movie that he wrote when he was starring in this and he’s still doing his paintings.”
“He never stops,” the Canadian continued “He sits there and he’s doodling while he’s talking to you. It’s the most incredible doodle you’ve ever seen. He goes to his trailer for five minutes, he comes back and his hands are covered with paint and he’s ready to shoot. He just never stops – he’s this creative force. That’s inspiring and intimidating at the same time.”
The future Ken isn’t the only major name to have been left speechless by watching Hopkins in full flow. Perhaps his approach to acting – to try not to take things too seriously – is the secret to his long, consistently fruitful career. Maybe if we all started barking like a dog when things get tough, we’d all be as successful as Anthony Hopkins. Or maybe we’d all get fired from our jobs and locked up in an institution. Only one way to find out.
