Critics Club II: 08 - Anthony Hopkins

[Neon Ignition]

"I'd rather enjoy reading your thread with some fava beans and a nice chianti"


Anthony Hopkins




We say Hello to Clarice as we open the voting on our eighth Celeb. Vote for the movie you feel is their best whilst also discussing their other work, your reasons for voting and thoughts on what is their weakest.

Some will have very long lists so some trimming will be required to focus on the key entries but broadly the main selection will be available each time.

[Dogg Thang]

I instantly went for what might be a controversial choice: Thor Ragnarok. I just think him playing Loki as Odin is my favourite performance of his by a long shot. I stand by my choice.

[Atticus]

I instantly went for what is probably an obvious choice: Silence of the Lambs. This harks back to a time when I went to see films without any real hype and occasionally saw something that knocked me for a six. I was obsessed with this film when it came out, not in grizzly way, just mesmerised by it's utter brilliance. And Hopkins' performance is at the very heart of it. That approach to his cell and reveal is one of the most amazing, goose bump inducing sequences I've ever seen: He's just waiting so patiently, knowing you're coming, so calm yet so terrifying. His character comes through his whole body language, and those eyes. Wow.

He's so good he puts other stellar performances in the shadow. Ted Levine is fantastic (the kitchen scene at the end is phenomenal) but no one ever really mentions him.

[QualityChimp]

OK, so it's going to be Silence of the Lambs for me.
The film is excellent on many grounds, but unlike some of the other polls, where it's unclear if you're voting for the film or the performance, in this case, Hopkins delivers a performance that truly deserved the Oscar.

I could continue to heap praise, but if you've seen it, you know how good it is, not with screaming monster scares, but the little touches like standing and waiting for Clarice or sniffing the air to catch her perfume like knowing what scent she wears is enough to read a bit of her soul. Terrifying.

However, I also want to give a shout out to a couple of his period pieces.
I was really moved by his portrayal of C.J. Lewis who sang "Sweets For My Sweet".
Wait... C.S. Lewis, who wrote The Chronic(what)les of Narnia.
Bad puns aside, Shadowlands is a really lovely story of how he met his wife and the various hurdles they overcame to be with each other, only for him to lose her to cancer and assess his Christianity in the face of such great loss.

I also really enjoyed Remains of the Day, which is an exploration of duty at a time where being a servant was both an honoured but oppressed position. His character, Stevens, is frustratingly devoted to his role as butler to his master, who turns out to be a Nazi conspirator. Time and time and time again he favours duty over his feelings for his co-worker, Kenton (Emma Thompson) and you just want to shake him and shout "Choose the woman, you fool!"

Some amazing quotes too:
“If you are under the impression you have already perfected yourself, you will never rise to the heights you are no doubt capable of.”

"What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it.”

“One is not struck by the truth until prompted quite accidentally by some external event.”

"It was one of those events which at a crucial stage in one's development arrive to challenge and stretch one to the limit of one's ability and beyond, so that thereafter one has a new standard by which to judge oneself.”

“Perhaps it is indeed time I began to look at this whole matter of bantering more enthusiastically. After all, when one thinks about it, it is not such a foolish thing to indulge in – particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth.”


“Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day.”

[Neon Ignition]

Recently it was interesting to read about his personal life and the decades he's spent being pretty brutally cold to his daughter with a recent diagnosis Asperger's being discovered possibly revealing why, though you never know some people just aren't for being parents

[Solar]

For me it's got to be...

[nonny]

What's the movie where he plays a ventriloquist and is mentally disturbed? Watched it on bbc2 many years ago but even though it probably isn't his greatest role it made me realise just how good he was as an actor.

I'd pick that but otherwise silence of the lambs by a large measure. Having watched manhunter or whatever the original was called, silence of the lambs is a tour de force. Not only due to Hopkins but also because Foster is his equal in the movie.

[QualityChimp]

What's the movie where he plays a ventriloquist and is mentally disturbed?

Now, that's Magic.

[Blobcat]

Tempted by the obvious masterpiece that is his performance in Silence of the lambs, but also Thor 3 for the same reasons as [MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION] said; Genuinely made me feel he was another person inside the actors body such as HBC in Harry Potter 8 and Mr Hanks in Big.

I did not chose those two performances as my best though so I will for Mr Hopkins.

Bonus appreciation mention of The Elephant man where he is great but of course the title character steals the show if there is still anyone out there who still hasn't seen that film.