subject: Anthony Hopkins, The Actor And Director [print this page] Anthony Hopkins movies are always a joy to watch. For five decades the legendary actor has practised his skill, honing his acting style into a perfection that lends something extraordinary to all of Anthony Hopkins performances.
The mastery of script is one of Sir Anthony Hopkins key strengths in acting expertise - he reads each script exactly 250 times. The great actor believes 250 to be the magical number and once said "I save the acting for when the director says, Action". This is the method tirelessly employed by the RADA trained actor in all Anthony Hopkins movies, firmly believing that rehearsals are not strictly essential and much to the further annoyance of directors, he isn't comfortable to do retakes!
"August" 1996 was the first movie Hopkins directed himself. Hopkins found the movie-making itself surprisingly easy by his own words but he came unstuck when it came to the editing and had to pass this part of the procedure over to editor Edward Mansell who made ninety minutes of cuts and it was at that point that Hopkins realized his newfound career as a director was not a great idea and that first and foremost his natural ability lay as an actor. Anthony Hopkins movies where he has been the director have not been thriving at the box-office.
Anthony Hopkins the actor is particularly keen on roles where he can study a character well, enjoying detailed character research at which he excells. Hopkins played President Richard Nixon in the movie Nixon 1995, initially outraged by director Oliver Stones indication of himself, a British actor playing an American President. Though, Hopkins steadily came round to accepting the character, while he knew it was taking a chance at this time when he was at the summit of his career, following his Oscar-winning performance in 1991 for his depiction of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of The Lambs. Anthony Hopkins spent over 50 hours watching video footage of the, by then late, President in groundwork for the movie Nixon, perfecting his mannerisms and accent, embodying the meaning of the character, as opposed to purely his physical appearance. An Oscar nomination was forthcoming for Hopkins' powerful performance in the lead, and combined with the clever photography and music score, the movie is a really pleasing drama from start to finish, being one of the all-time favourite Anthony Hopkins movies.
Other Anthony Hopkins movies linking the talented actors exceptional skill at character study include The World's Fastest Indian" 2005, where he plays Burt Munro the legendary land-speed record setter, a cantankerous but jovial old man from New Zealand who fulfilled his life-long dream of going to Bonneville with his self-customised Indian motorcycle. Hopkins gave a very convincing performance, especially mastering the accent and conveying the warmth of Munro. In Surviving Picasso 1996, where Hopkins plays the artist Pablo Picasso, playing out the monster in the over sexed, selfish, controlling artist, and character study comes into play again - on this occasion he even resembles Picasso, so the accomplishment is even more credible.
