Became the oldest actor to win a Oscar (he got the second of his career with The Father in 2021), Anthony Hopkins (85) joined the series ‘Those About To Die’ and as part of his work on the movie Armageddon Time (2022), he met the press again. Here is an excerpt from the interview in the newspaper El País. “I was what they called (a student) ‘slow development’. I was also a very lonely boy. I didn’t have any friends. But I think that was by choice. But I did have a creative side and at 17 I decided I was sick of being called stupid. I said to myself: ‘I’m going to do something. I don’t know how, but I’m going to be an actor’. My grandfather encouraged me from a young age: ‘Don’t listen to people. Do what you want'”.
He would have liked to play ‘Hamlet’. “But I’m too old now.” He commented that today he works hard, but he tries to “enjoy” and not be “unhappy” in the industry. “When he was a young actor he was very intense and ambitious. But as you get older you realize that it’s not such a big deal.”
The actor gave his opinion of the world crises and prefers to talk about hope. “I think we have reached a point in this new crisis where there is hope because it is the only thing we can hold on to. We survived the pandemic, the world overcame World War II, Hitler… Cynics will say that (hope) is worthless. But we must have it. If we forget it, it’s all over.”
These days, the actor spends time in the United States and the United Kingdom. “I go where they tell me! (laughs). If they would let me, I would go to England. I do not reside in Hollywood and have few friends within the industry. I live my life calmly.”
Hopkins argues that while it seems inevitable that an actor doesn’t have ego problems, today he considers his job to be less important. “The problem is when (your ego) starts telling you that you are special, that you are different.
He ego he has two personalities. One is what gives you air and makes you think you are God and the other is what allows you to move on. It can be very destructive, you see it in the movies and in politics. But once you reach a certain age and your bones start to grind, the ego tells you, ‘Let’s calm down. Nothing is that important.’ I can’t afford to take myself seriously when there are people capable of doing things that I can barely understand.”
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