Actor writes biography
Anthony Hopkins chooses favorite screenplay
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The Welshman Hopkins has been a sought-after character actor for decades – and a crowd-pleaser on the big screen. Now the 86-year-old is writing a biography and revealing a lot about his life during the work process – especially about the dark sides.
A few weeks ago, on December 31st, Anthony Hopkins celebrated his 86th birthday – and has experienced a lot in his years of life. Now he wants to put that on paper. “I'm writing a biography,” the actor told People magazine. This is “a strange process”.
What helps him in his new project is that he can remember everything well: “I realized that I'm blessed with one thing. Maybe it's an actor's brain. I have a pretty good memory.” He therefore remembers individual days of his life well. His wife Stella, with whom he has been married for 20 years, is also working on a retrospective: she is creating a documentary about the two-time Oscar winner. His wife had a “free hand,” said Hopkins. He also doesn't know how far their work has progressed. “I don't ask them. It's pretty much a movie. I don't know when it's going to come out.” But he knows one thing: his wife also interviewed his former “Silence of the Lambs” colleague Jodie Foster for her film.
Hopkins almost failed because of alcohol addiction
Speaking of “The Silence of the Lambs”: The actor revealed that the script for the 1991 cult film was one of the best things he had read to date. The thriller, for which both Hopkins and Foster won the Oscar for best actor, will certainly also play a role in his biography. He wasn't necessarily born with the idea that he would one day become a Hollywood star: his parents ran a bakery in South Wales. At school he was “disoriented” and for a long time he didn't know what he wanted to do professionally. However, his father's desperation about this spurred him on: “I said: 'One day I'll show you both'.” He began studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, after which he initially worked as a theater actor.
However, his aspiring career almost failed because of his alcohol addiction. “I drank myself to death,” he explains matter-of-factly. However, one day he heard a voice in his head that said to him: “You can start living.” He took that to heart and sought help. “That was 48 years ago.” Overall, he looks back positively: “I'm just lucky. I've been through ups and downs and depression and despair and anger and all that stuff, but over the last few years I've gradually thought, 'Well, I'm still here. '”
