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Host: Welcome, sir Anthony Hopkins, to AOL live.
Anthony: Thank you.
Host: We are joined tonight by Sir Anthony Hopkins, who is referring to the screen as Hannibal Lecter in the sequel to "Silence of the Lambs." "Hannibal," opening on February 9. We are going to open with a member question from lj9385. Why has it take taken so long to make a sequel to this film?
Anthony: We all waited for Thomas Harris to come up with a book. I have been asked many times over the years what has happened. I said I am not the writer, you have to ask Thomas Harris. Two years ago, there was a hint that he was about to complete his novel, "Hannibal." And I had heard some rumor about five or six years ago that it takes place in Florence. It proved to be true. And then I think it was about months ago, I was given the proofs of the novel, and then it was all full steam ahead. Jonathan Demme read it and turned it down. Joe read the screen play. I don't know what happened, but anyway, the main producer who owns the copyright decides to go ahead anyway, and I was quite happy.
Host: Did Jodie Foster's decision not to do the film in any way affect your decision?
Anthony: No, it didn't affect my decision at all. I was philosophical about it. I have another life to live besides making Hannibal Lecter movies, but I -- I said whatever happens, happens. If they make it, they make it. Members of various tabloids in Britain report that -- all kinds of false reports that the newspapers will make, but I was very detached from it, and then when de laurentiises chose Ridley Scott as the director and they chose Julianne Moore out of a bunch of actresses who were all pretty formidable and highly talented movie stars in their own right. When Julianne was selected, I was really thrilled, and I still didn't believe we were going to make it until I actually stood in front of the camera in Florence because I am a little jaded about that now, but it was certainly very enjoyable.
Host: Oh, great. One of our members, Aaron B. Moran says, did you enjoy working with Julianne Moore? Sounds like you did.
Anthony: Yes. We didn't have a great deal to do together except mostly voice-overs of communicating with her by phone.
Host: How interesting.
Anthony: And then we have two or three big scenes towards the end, and they were pretty powerful scenes and she is a powerful actress -- or actor, I should say, politically correct. She is very powerful and very disciplined and very, very good, very formidable, quite formidable. Very nice woman, very easy to work with.
Host: Excellent. We have a couple of questions coming in from our audience. One person asks, how did playing a character like Hannibal Lecter make you feel, given the kind of despicable things that he has done in the last couple of films?
Anthony: Well, I have only played him twice, and I have played a lot of very good men. I have only played one strange man and that's Hannibal Lecter. How does it make me feel? Well, it's acting. It's a part. It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger or somebody who kills people in their films. It's a job. It's an entertainment. It's called acting. You don't -- I don't lie awake at night in horror. It's my job. It's what I do. And yet I can be playing other parts as well, like a butler or doctor or and in other films. At the moment I am playing a lawyer in the film with Alec Baldwin. So it's all called acting. Not to be taken seriously.
Host: Right. Is it because Hannibal was so different a character from other characters that you played, is not, which ones are?
Anthony: I think he is one of my favorites. He is the most interesting my favorites. He is the most interesting man to play. When I played "Silence of the Lambs," I had an idea that it would be a successful movie because it was so brilliantly directed by Jonathan Demme, and I knew that it was one of those characters that would interest the public. I had a hunch about that, some instinct about that, that it would fascinate audiences, because I think it's part of human psyche that we are interested in -- fascinated by the dark side of all human personality, and the dark or what is called the seemingly negative side, it's not a negative side. It's a dark side which can be a very creative side and only is destructive if it's neglected or repressed. And Lecter represents that part that is in all of us. I don't mean to say there is cannibalism, but the dark certainty of our psychic desires and all that.
Host: Right.
Anthony: Anyway, acting is not brain surgery, so I must not get too caught up in the psychological aspect of acting.
Host: On that note, we have a fan in the audience. Sleepy babe 217, who would like to know, who inspired you to get into acting?
Anthony: Well, when I was in school, I had very little chance of a future because I was so -- what's the word? I was a poor student. I couldn't -- I couldn't grasp anything. I know a lot of actors are people who tend towards the artistic professions like music and tend to be a little different and they're regarded as children as oddballs. I was academically hopeless, and there was a local -- this guy in the town where I lived called Richard Burton, and he was a young actor, and he became very successful and world famous, and I thought if he can do it, maybeI can do the same thing, and he was a sort of example for me, I suppose. And I stumbled into acting because I had nothing better to do. I didn't know what else to do. I thought it sure beats working for a living, and lo and behold, I became an actor, and much to my surprise, I became successful. I can't account for any of that. I think a little bit of talent helps, but I think it's mostly luck and maybe some kind of focus or drive, but my life today is as surprising to me as it may be to some of my friends.
Host: Always the unexpected.
Anthony: It is the unexpected. So that's what inspired me. I just wanted to -- well, I wanted to become what I have become.
Host: That's great. We have an aspiring actor in the audience actually --
Anthony: You mean you actually have an audience there?
Host: We do.
Anthony: They're sitting in the room?
Host: No, they're on-line.
Anthony: I am so illiterate about computers. I had a laptop once and I destroyed it because it was driving me nuts. I can just about use the typewriter and that's it.
Host: Yeah, they're all at home right now and they're sending in their questions.
Anthony: Hello to everyone. Host: They are saying hello back.
Anthony: Hello there.
Host: Tdjam 70 would like to know if you ever work with young filmmakers to help create their projects or if aspiring filmmakers come to you with projects, do you ever help them get off the ground?
Anthony: Well, I have responded in the affirmative when people have asked me, and then I never hear from them again. If I would indeed and if they present, you know, present a script and it's -- my advice, whoever the questioner is, whoever the member of the audience is, is a young filmmaker, the thing you have to do -- I always insist on this. If I am offered a script by someone on the street or in a restaurant, I try to be very polite and say send it to my agent, because when it's done through just passing on a script and handed out, it never works. Somehow it's cursed that way, and the best way to do it is to go through an agent. I know a lot of agents don't pass on information to their clients, but I happen to have a very, very good agent, and I have alerted him sometimes, if you ever get any odd scriptsyou ever get any odd scripts from -- let me know. And he does. I am very interested in working with young directors. Yeah, that's my answer.
Host: That's great. I am sure that person will be very happy to hear that and their agent -- your agent will probably be hearing from them tomorrow. Here is an interesting question. Let's see. Big san2 is asking it seems like you have worked with just about everyone in the film business. Is there someone you haven't worked to that you would like to on a future project?
Anthony: Julia Roberts.
Host: Any plans in the works?
Anthony: No. She's gorgeous and a wonderful actress, and I would love to work with her. I haven't seen her that often, but when we meet, we get on well together and I would love to work with her. I would like to work with – I don't know. I would love to work with Marlon brando. I haven't really worked with everyone, but I have worked with a number of fine actors, but the people I would like to work with -- Kevin Spacey or De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer. Certainly I would like to work with Julia Roberts.
Host: It would be great if our aspiring filmmaker in the audience was right now casting you all together in a film.
Anthony: Yeah. I would also like to work with Sean Penn and woody Allen I would like to work with. Yeah, a number of people I would like to work with. I think one of my favorites I would love to work with Clint Eastwood.
Host: Oh, wow.
Anthony: I think he is a terrific filmmaker. I like his style, two takes and that's it. I like his, you know, his lack of pretentiousness, his simplicity. I know people who have worked with him say he is great. He is one I would like to work with and I nearly did once. He offered me a part and I couldn't do it in some film, and I couldn't do it, so regrettably, maybe one day I will.
Host: Absolutely. We have actually been running a poll on-line in the AOL entertainment area for the past week, polling our members about who is the last movie villain they'd want to run into in a dark alley, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter has been winning with 46% of the vote and you have some pretty stiff competition with Freddy Krueger and someone from the Texas chain saw massacre. How about you? Who is the last movie villain you would want to run into in a dark alley? [EDITOR’S NOTE: Is this not the worst question/plug you have ever heard?]
Anthony: I like Hannibal. I think he is a very polite man. Actually I thought the first "nightmare on elm street" was such a great movie. I thought it was a fantastic movie. I didn't like some of the others that he made, but Freddy Krueger was pretty scary.
Host: Do you feel that "Hannibal" is a suitable sequel?
Anthony: I know him very well so I wouldn't be scared of him. Host: Let's see. Here is a question from one of our members. What was it like to be knighted?
Anthony: It was very pleasant, quite a big surprise, and it was a great surprise. This happened about seven years ago, I think. My -- I was told I had a knighthood, and I had been offered a knighthood. I said, what for? I didn't know why they were knighting me because I didn't think I did anything to deserve it. I went to the palace and met the queen. It's very ceremonial, very dignified and very pleasant. I was asked once, what was more exciting, the Oscar or the knighthood? I said, well, you can't – they are two different kind of ceremonies. The Oscar is crazy and exciting and the knighthood is very calm and dignified and very part of that British tradition. I don't use it, I don't walk around -- I always still feel slightly uncomfortable when people call me Sir Anthony Hopkins. If people want to call me that, that's fine. But if people think they have to bow to me or something, you know, I think some Americans think I ride around in a white horse or something, but no, it's a very nice title. I am very grateful. I am appreciative of it, but I did do something that may be unforgivable in the British press. I became an American citizen.
Host: We have a question about that, about what prompted that decision?
Anthony: Which means that, in fact, you know, I have to – as far as America is concerned, I am not allowed to use the title of knighthood. I never used it anyway, so – I don't use it. But I am very honored and grateful to people who gave me that honor. And I hope they understand that I respect that.
Host: We have a question here. It says, Mr. Hopkins, I would like to say how much I admire you and your work. you and your work. Your portrayal is fascinating. Do you know from first reading how you play the part or do you research it?
Anthony: No, I knew as soon as I read it how to play it. I didn't do any research. I read one book by Truman Capote called "in cold blood" about that detached crime that happened. It was made into a film many years ago with Robert Blake, but I didn't do research. I don't really do research unless it's absolutely necessary. For example, if I was playing a surgeon, I would have to do some research and figure out a few things. I would get advice on how to perform an operation. And sometimes I will research if it's of interest to me or a historical character or something like that. Sure, I will do the reading that is necessary. But playing Lecter, which is a purely fictional character, I understood intuitively how to play it within a few minutes -- well, let's say within a day of reading the script. A very strong impression came to me. I think it was about a day, the first reading of the script, I saw him, and I saw the shape of him, the look of him, the sound of his voice. And decided that intuitively and I think sensibly to go with that and not complicate it and just play it very straight and very charmingly. The trick of acting is to let the audience do the work, so I figured out none of this is calculated or conscious, but I figured out that in the first 15 minutes of the Moffetty, maybethe first 10 minutes from the moment we see Jodie Foster running up the hill and they're going to the F.B.I. headquarters with jack Crawford and doing her interview that they talk about this creature, this man. He says I don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head. She says Hannibal the cannibal. My decision was what is the audience's first impression when they see me? Jonathan gave me the choice. He said how would you like to be seen when we first see you? I said, standing upright in the middle of the cell, and I don't know why that came up but it was as if he knows everything. When she sees him, he's got a very nice smile, and he says, good morning, you're from the F.B.I. That can scare the hell out of the audience because he is very quiet, very gentle, very charming, and polite to her. But the audience has enough information on him that this man is not normal, that he can kill within a second. So let the audience do the work. You do that through stillness. It's like watching any animal that's still, like a cat when it's about to pounce. You know how fascinating they are. Watching reptiles, how still they are, how they pounce on their prey from assuming the relaxed position. They're always fascinating, and a little frightening.
Host: With what you have spoken about, Jonathan Demme, one of our members would like to know who is the one director that you have worked with that has made the most provocative impression on you?
Anthony: The most provocative impression? Well, there have been several. Oliver Stone was one. Great director, terrific director. The ones I have worked with are all different. Oliver Stone is a wonderful director. Francis Ford Coppola. I think Jonathan Demme was one. They're all different so it would be unfair to say I prefer one over the other, but my recent, most enjoyablerecent, most enjoyable experience was working with Ridley Scott. Because he is very easy, he is very efficient. He works very quickly. Two takes and that's it. There is nothing so terrifying, so boring as doing take after take because the director doesn't know what he is after. Ridley Scott has this wonderful workmanlike -- a very practical, pragmatic way of working. He sees it on the camera. He sees it in his mind's eye. He is a graphic artist, and he includes the actors in the process. And he is very easy. He trusts the actors. He trusts them to do their job as he trusts the cameraman to do his job and the sound department to do theirs. That makes it easy and it makes you feel that you're creative and that you're part of the process. There is nothing worse than being excluded. I have worked with a few directors who were like that, and they are a real pain. So I choose to not work with people like that anymore.
Host: One of our members asks, 'twas hard to get -- was it hard to get back into character after the break? Did Ridley Scott help?
Anthony: No, it was very easy. I read the script. It was easy. There wasn't any problem at all. I have always been fascinated by cats, and so I had to redevise a walk, which I wanted to becatlike, very smooth walking, very -- not to use too much energy, just float around. So I based it on cat movement. Nothing special about it, but I am just walking very serenely and quietly around the streets of Florence. The character, beyond my control, has changed considerably from "Silence of the Lambs." I saw it a few weeks ago. He had been probably more gentle in a way, has dropped some of the mask of "Silence of the Lambs." I mean, I can't describe it really, but as the film progresses, he changes. He makes a few bad mistakes. He gets caught at one point, but it's as if he tempts fate too much, and he makes one mistake and he gets caught. But anyway, she tries to rescue him and he rescues her and so on, but he escapes again.
Host: Everyone is very intrigued to go and see this film.
Anthony: I hope you all have pleasant dreams afterwards.
Host: We actually have a question from a member in AOL Argentina given the global nature of the internet, we have people from all over the world in our audience tonight. They've asked, what kind of characters do you enjoy doing for the most part and why?
Anthony: Well, I tend to play remote characters. I don't know. It's maybe part of my nature or maybe it's the way directors see me. I tend to be not remote -- I am -- I like my solitude. I am very much a loner. That sounds so weird to say that, but I like my own company. I don't seek out friendships. I have some friends, but I like being on my own a lot. So I suppose that comes off in my personality. I usually play men who are solitary, knowledgeable, so on and so forth, and they're interesting characters. Somebody said you should do a comedy or play a romantic part. I think I am getting too old to play romantic parts. Like "The Remains of the Day" which is a romantic part but the guy who never gets the girl. That's part of my personality. If I were Tom Cruise or whoever, Robert Redford, then it would be a different story, but I am not. They have -- so I tend to play these men who are very -- who tend to be quiet, mysterious, remote and isolated. I am playing one at the moment with Alec Baldwin. I am playing Daniel Webster in "The Devil and Daniel Webster," a man who is in control and very powerful, but remote, always moves on his own. Those characters fascinate me for some reason. They have given me a good living. They have given me a good career, so that's good.
Host: Great. career, so that's good. Great. Thank you for joining us. That was our last question. I do want to end with we did get a comment from one of the members in our audience. One of the great things about this medium is that they can share their feelings to you and one member would like to say thank you, be bold and mightythank you, be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid, that helps me a lot.
Anthony: That's great.
Host: Wanted to convey that to you.
Anthony: Thank you very much.
Host: It's been great having you. Thanks for joining us.
Anthony: My love to everyone.
Host: Thanks a lot. Good night.