The Oscar-winning role Anthony Hopkins quit because he was too scared: “I will ruin this film”
Even though he’d been acting since the 1960s and had always been regarded as one of stage and screen’s most mercurial talents, Anthony Hopkins was three decades into his career and in his early 50s before he became a star.
Everyone knew he was a great actor, but the breakthrough role that would catapult him to the next level remained out of reach until Hannibal Lecter came along. Hopkins won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ on his first nomination, created a cultural icon, and was more in demand than he’d ever been.
He’d been delivering impressive performances across film, television, and theatre for a long time, but it wasn’t until The Silence of the Lambs that he truly cracked Hollywood. From that point on, he was a known and valuable commodity, but he may well have reached that pinnacle almost ten years earlier had he not been so completely and utterly terrified.
Mounting an epic biographical drama about Mahatma Gandhi had always been Richard Attenborough’s dream project. He’d been trying to get the project off the ground since 1962, and it wouldn’t be until 20 years later that Ben Kingsley led the eponymous film to critical, commercial, and awards season glory.
However, it could have been Hopkins. He was cast in the part and had undergone extensive makeup tests, all while trying to lose the requisite amount of weight to embody the character. Attenborough was thrilled at the starting line finally coming into view, only for his leading man to leave him high and dry.
“I’d be running up a mountain and doing all this exercise, and I’d think, ‘Well, I’ve got Gandhi to look forward to,'” he recalled of his intense preparations. “But then, one day, I looked in the mirror and said, ‘I can’t do Gandhi‘. Every time I’d look in that mirror, it didn’t work.”
Hopkins even sought advice from his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Bob Palmer. “I said, ‘Tell me your opinion,'” he reflected. “This Gandhi, I’m going to do it, and it will drive me insane. But I’ve given my word: I have to do it.'” When Palmer asked if it would make his life miserable, the actor answered in the affirmative and explained why.
“Because I’m scared of it,” came the honest reply. “Terrified. I can lose the weight, but that won’t be enough. They need an Indian actor. Dickie is making a terrible mistake.” Eventually, he plucked up the courage to inform Attenborough that he was out: “I can’t do it,” Hopkins informed him. “You must get somebody else because I will ruin this film for you.”
In hindsight, he was correct. Such practices were commonplace in cinema, but hiring an actor of Indian descent to play Gandhi was the right call, and it only happened because Hopkins was absolutely bricking it. Of course, Attenborough’s opus went on to win eight Oscars and became Kingsley’s star-making turn, so he was probably right to abandon ship when he did.
