Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 7, 1994 TAG: 9401080051
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BARRY KOLTNOW ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Isn't it interesting that every actor in this scene has a real university degree except you," the actor said, "and you're the one with the starring role?"
The irony was not lost on Hopkins, a man at the top of his profession who sadly remembers a time in grade school when he was considered so dumb that classmates mercilessly taunted him.
"I was a real dumbo in school," said Hopkins, who grew up in the same Welsh town as Richard Burton. "I just couldn't get it together, and the other kids picked up on that. Kids can be very cruel if you're different."
So playing the brilliant author and Oxford professor C.S. Lewis, whose love affair with American writer Joy Gresham is recounted in "Shadowlands," is particularly sweet revenge for Hopkins.
But every role has been sweet for Hopkins since "The Silence of the Lambs," the 1991 thriller that not only introduced him to a new generation of movie-goers, but won him a best actor Oscar and led to his knighthood a year later.
Hopkins, 56, did have a modestly successful career before "The Silence of the Lambs," of course. He won numerous kudos for his performance in the 1975 Broadway play "Equus," received two Emmy awards for portraying Lindbergh kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann in one TV movie and Adolf Hitler in another and even had a cult-movie following because of films such as "Magic."
But cult status gave way to superstar status after director Jonathan Demme picked him to play serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs."
With "The Remains of the Day" already released, "Shadowlands" will give Hopkins the distinction of having two movies playing in the nation's theaters simultaneously. He has one more film - "The Innocent" - ready to be released, and he has signed on for two more films in 1994.
As if his bounty were not plentiful enough, there is talk in Hollywood of a second Oscar for either 1993 performance.
"When I read the script for `Silence' I knew right away what this would mean to my career," Hopkins said recently during a visit to Los Angeles. "I read it and said, `Wow, maybe it's my time.'
"And it was my time. It was my second crack at the jackpot. I had thought my movie career was over. I was already prepared to return to England and become a respectable British stage actor for the rest of my life.
"Then, whoosh, along comes this great role. I didn't know what the hell happened to me. My head is still spinning."
Hopkins' success is all the more stunning considering his humble roots. A native of Port Talbot, South Wales, he was big for his age, which didn't help his "dumb" image with classmates.
He said he didn't know Burton, but was well aware of his reputation. Burton, who was older, already had left the town to seek his fame, fortune and Elizabeth Taylor.
After serving a two-year stint in the military, he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. To get into the noted acting school, Hopkins had to audition for the head of the school, who at the time was Laurence Olivier.
"We weren't bosom buddies, or anything like that, because he was much older," Hopkins said. "But he looked out for me and gave me my first big break.
"He also made me feel better about my body. I was very muscular, and he admired that. He used to say that a body like that was a great asset for an actor. He told me to keep it fit because once the body went, it was all over for an actor."
Hopkins began making a name for himself on the London stage, but he was unhappy. It wasn't the British stage legends who excited and motivated him. It was American film stars such as Marlon Brando and James Dean whom he admired.
"The British actors always seemed so wooden to me, and the American film actors seemed so free. I wanted to be just like them."
Interestingly, Hopkins always rejected the type of Method acting made famous by Brando. Instead, Hopkins long has been admired for the ease with which he acts. The actor calls it the "opposite of concentration."
"American actors come up to me all the time and ask me what my secret is," Hopkins said with a sly smile. "They say they have trouble concentrating because of all the distractions around them on the set. They want to know my secret for blocking out all the noise.
"But I don't block out anything. I am like a sponge. I am aware of every noise and every person on that set. That's how I concentrate, by taking it all in and making it part of the whole.
"The cameraman, the guy on lights, the other actors . . . they all become part of my focus.
"I try to tell these actors that acting really isn't that difficult. People want to make it more difficult than it is. Really, acting is a matter of learning your lines, showing up for work and then pretending like it's really happening."
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