I know that this description may sound
somewhat melodramatic, but this really is how it feels to be in the same
room as Sir Anthony. I mean, this is a man who has presence. From the
moment that he enters to the moment that he leaves, he consumes the
room.
In typical Hopkins style (from what I've read of his previous
interviews), he diverts attention from himself from the moment that he
enters the room. He sits down at the table and picks up the paperback
copy of Thomas Harris' Red Dragon that is sitting on the table. He asks
for a copy for himself. Then, he fiddles with a digital voice recorder
belonging to one of the journalists. He is both amazed and amused by it.
He asks him where he bought it and how much he paid for it. (I'm
wondering, "Why would Anthony Hopkins need a digital voice
recorder?", but I keep that thought to myself.)
Secretly, I am happy for the diversion - I am still adjusting to the
fact that I am sitting an arm's length away from Anthony Hopkins. And
that I am going to get to ask him questions. And that he is actually
going to answer me. This isn't just a hallucination induced by one too
many glasses of Beringer at dinner the night before. I am actually
interviewing Anthony Hopkins.
In retrospect, I wonder if Sir Anthony could sense that we were all a
bit awestruck, and if he created the diversion to put us all at ease. It
wouldn't surprise me. Because, in addition to his incredible presence,
the other thing that is immediately apparent about him is the fact that
he presents as such a genuine, nice guy. Not a giant of the silver
screen. Not an actor who commands millions for a half-hour of screen
time. Not the recipient of a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth. He is
just, "Tony", the everyman.
With a few minor exceptions, Hopkins does little to dispel this
"everyman" image. When it is pointed out to him that his face
is plastered all over the hotel where we are conducting the interviews
(it is hard to miss his image in those eerie Red Dragon movie posters),
he admits that he is still a bit taken aback when he sees himself front
and centre. "It's odd looking at things like that", he says,
"...it's me...and that's weird."
Having put us at ease, Sir Anthony is unable to dodge the inevitable
questions about the role that made him a household name. Dr. Hannibal
Lecter. Hannibal the Cannibal. And, although I am sure that he has heard
the same questions more times than he cares to remember, he is always
graceful answering them.
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