The “charming” actor who left Anthony Hopkins paralysed with fear: “It’s not their fault, it’s me”
It’s strange to think of Anthony Hopkins being afraid of anyone when the man himself has terrified millions.
Once you’ve seen him as Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs and its 2001 sequel, it’s hard to view Hopkins as a gentle old man again. A photo of his face can instantly bring back the hiss of his voice or that unnerving lip-lick. He played the character so convincingly that it has, for many, permanently coloured how they see him, even if they first encountered him in entirely different roles.
He’s one of those actors who holds the ability to disappear into the part completely, and whether that be as Richard Nixon, or Abraham Van Helsing in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula adaptation, Hopkins has spent decades now morphing from role to role, hero to villain, comedic relief to complete horror. Each and every time, he does it fearlessly and fully, so it’s tough to imagine a man like that is ever shy.
And that doesn’t even acknowledge one plain and simple fact: Anthony Hopkins is famous. Incredibly famous, in fact, and the type of famous that is built from reverence and respect, as his own peers even see his talent and bow to it.
With so many iconic characters under his belt, Hollywood admires him as he’s earned the love and favour of a golden class of directors, including Coppola, David Lynch, Oliver Stone and many more, yet still, in the company of other legends, Hopkins seems to crumble into shyness as he specifically doesn’t really like being around other actors.
“Whenever I meet actors, too, I’m so nervous,” he told Tatler once, as he admitted that award shows and social occasions that bring together his peers make him collapse into self-consciousness.
In particular, he recalled one meeting that sent him running scared, telling the magazine, “I think back to people like Judi Dench, a perfectly charming, nice woman, and I’m so nervous around people like that.” Terrified of meeting the actor who is well-known for being kind and nice, Dench sent Hopkins into a spiral as he just couldn’t seem to pull it together and relax.
“I don’t know what it is,” he said as he’s more than aware, “It’s not their fault, it’s me”. But either way, his own peers leave him “paralysed with fear”, even if they’re people he’s worked with. After working on Mission: Impossible II with Tom Cruise, Hopkins rejected a dinner invite from him, saying that although the star was “a nice guy” who he enjoyed working with, once the second project wraps, Hopkins wants to return to his insular life away from movie stars.
In that case, though, there was less fear and more boredom. “I didn’t want to socialise, to sit around with actors talking about how wonderful they all are,” he said honestly, admitting, “It’s pretty boring. Years ago, I did it, but I guess now I want to be private.” So while some of Hopkins’ reserved nature comes down to shyness, a portion of it is simply prioritising his own peace.
