The director Anthony Hopkins called “barking mad”
Years after Jonathan Demme saw Anthony Hopkins playing Dr Treves in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, he knew that he would have to cast him in The Silence of the Lambs, especially after seeing him again on a London theatre stage. The role would end up becoming one of Hopkins’ most iconic on-screen efforts, one that still resonates today.
However, Hopkins is far more than just his Hannibal Lecter portrayal; the truth is that he has given some of the best acting performances of all time by a British actor. Among them are the likes of The Father, The Remains of the Day, Amistad and The Two Popes, all of which say Hopkins nominated for an Academy Award.
Still, when Demme asked Hopkins to play Lecter, it was something of a surprise to the actor, who wondered why the director hadn’t chosen an American actor for the role. Interestingly, just a few years later, Hopkins would again be contacted for a notorious American role, one with even more notoriety than the cannibalistic, imprisoned serial killing psychologist.
In 1995, Hopkins performed the lead role in Oliver Stone’s epic historical drama Nixon, lending his dramatic talents to the former US President Richard Nixon. Also starring Joan Allen, Annabeth Gish, Marley Shelton, Bai Ling and Powers Boothe, Nixon painted the political figure in a complex light, with equal parts admiration and flaw.
Naturally, Hopkins was a surprise choice for the role, with the studio preferring either Tom Hanks or Jack Nicholson and Stone also considering Gene Hackman, Robin Williams, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones and Warren Beatty. Still, after seeing Hopkins in The Remains of the Day and Shadowlands, Stone felt that he should give the Welsh actor a shot, even though it took Hopkins by surprise.
In fact, Hopkins thought that Stone was “barking mad”. Stone travelled to London to meet with Hopkins, with Hopkins having already “made up [his] mind that [he] wasn’t going to it.” When the two sat down for breakfast at Stone’s hotel, Stone got ahead of Hopkins and said that he could already tell that the actor didn’t want the role.
Hopkins hadn’t seen a “hope in hell” for himself playing Nixon, but Stone followed up by telling him just what he saw in the actor that made him believe that he could do a good job. Stone said, “Well, I read in several interviews that you’ve always felt like an outsider. You’re a great achiever, very ambitious, and you’re very hard. Very single visioned. That’s why I want you to play him.”
Stone felt that Nixon himself was something of a “loner” figure and understood from what he had read in the press that Hopkins was also someone who liked his own company. “I’ve got enough going on in my life without hanging out with actors all the time,” Hopkins had once told The Daily Beast. “I love working, and I’m not lonely, I’m not a recluse, but I am very much my own person.”
The Welsh acting legend might have thought that Stone was “barking mad” for choosing him over any of his contemporaries, but the choice was vindicated by the time Nixon was completed. Hopkins’ performance was widely praised and earned an Academy Award nomination, showing that all he had to do was trust what his director had seen in him.
