The movie role Anthony Hopkins called “the best part I ever read”
Throughout his career, Anthony Hopkins has portrayed some of the most memorable characters in the history of cinema. From his early film roles in A Bridge to Far and The Elephant Man to his Academy Award-recognised performances in the likes of The Father, Nixon and The Remains of the Day, Hopkins has always proven his genius.
However, one cannot talk about Hopkins without mentioning his brilliant and terrifying turn as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs, based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel of the same name and also starring Jodie Foster.
Hopkins’ character is an imprisoned former psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer who is consulted by Foster’s young FBI trainee, Clarice Starling, as she tries to track down a loose serial killer known as ‘Buffalo Bill’. Hopkins’ performance was truly mesmerising, and he earned the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ despite only being on screen for around 12 minutes.
In a conversation with Foster, Hopkins once explained how he was first offered the role of Lecter and how he was blown away by the character when he first read the script. At the time, Hopkins had been performing in a play called M. Butterfly, which Foster proceeded to call one of her favourite plays of all time.
Hopkins was suddenly sent a script for The Silence of the Lambs by his agents, but when he read the title, he thought it might have been a children’s story. How wrong he was. When Hopkins discovered that Foster was attached to the project, his interest was suddenly piqued.
Reading the script on a “hot summer’s afternoon”, Hopkins was stunned by the writing, so much so that he called his agent and asked if the part was a “real offer”. Hopkins’ agent didn’t know, and the actor had been hesitant to read any more than ten pages because he didn’t want the offer to be false, seeing as the role of Lecter was “the best part [he’d] ever read”.
However, as fate had it, a few hours later, Hopkins’ agent called and said that director Jonathan Demme was genuinely interested in Hopkins taking on the role of Lecter. A handful of days later, Demme went for dinner at Hopkins’ house, told the actor that he was serious, and Hopkins went on to deliver one of his best-ever performances.
Hopkins had indeed found Lecter to be “the part of a lifetime”, as he once told AARP and the role “changed everything” for the actor. In fact, playing Lecter left a deep impression on Hopkins, not only in the fact that his future career prospects greatly improved but that he would always feel that he could “never escape from that guy”.
Prior to the Silence of the Lambs, though he had indeed given a handful of performances in the cinema, Hopkins looked destined for a life in the theatre, having played in King Lear, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra at the Royal National Theatre and also earning an Olivier Award for his effort in David Hare’s Pravda.
However, after Demme contacted him to play Lecter in his 1991 thriller, Hopkins’ professional life undoubtedly changed, and over the next decade, he would be nominated for a further three Oscars, proving that his future had always lain on the big screen. It only took Demme’s faith to bring it to fruition.
