The movie role Anthony Hopkins called “one of my favourite parts”
Just because a production is troubled doesn’t mean the people involved can’t hold onto it as a cherished memory. It sounds oxymoronic, but even though Anthony Hopkins trashed the movie that came out on the other side, the role he played became one of his favourites.
The two-time Academy Award winner has always maintained an air of calm and composure no matter what he’s working on, even if some of his co-stars haven’t always reciprocated those feelings. It comes in especially handy when a film is in danger of going off the rails, and Hopkins managed to hold on.
The project in question was intended to be a directorial vehicle for the legendary David Lean, who’d started working on the screenplay in 1977. Hopkins agreed to play the lead role two years later, but it wouldn’t be until five years after the finished product made its way into cinemas.
Between those two points the budget spiralled so far out of control it was abandoned after millions had been spent on pre-production, with Lean’s regular screenwriter Robert Bolt suffering a heart attack and a stroke along the way. It was subsequently resurrected with a new director at the helm, with production beginning less than 24 hours after the script had been finished.
What emerged was Roger Donaldson’s 1984 seafaring epic The Bounty, which Hopkins described as “such a sad mess of a film” that from that point forward, he vowed never to invest himself so deeply into a movie over which he has no personal control. And yet, he was more than happy with the work he did.
“I enjoyed it in some ways,” he told Interview while alluding to the exhaustive development and production. “I enjoyed working with Mel Gibson – he was nice – and especially Daniel Day-Lewis. The role of Bligh in The Bounty is actually one of my favourite parts, but it was done in Tahiti and it was rough working on the ships. People were very sick.”
Even when cameras were rolling The Bounty hadn’t lost its chaotic nature, with Hopkins admitting “there were so many takes you didn’t know what was happening.” Still, he persevered until the bitter end, even if his appraisal of the finished feature hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive.
He signed on with the intention of working with Lean, and even if he didn’t bear any ill will towards Donaldson when he took over, there was enough of a difference in the conception and execution that Hopkins rued his decision to see it through to the bitter end. He doesn’t care for The Bounty, but he does care deeply for the character he played and the performance he gave, which is a decent enough compromise.
