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Sir Anthony Hopkins: “relax…life’s dramatic enough!”

Sir Anthony Hopkins on living up to the demands of age (and art).

For someone who has undertaken the majority of his character roles with a moody, mysterious, almost bloody-minded swagger, you’d expect Sir Anthony Hopkins to approach ‘real life’ in much the same way. Yet, thankfully, there’s something rather more carefree about the 80-year-old when he’s away from the film set.

“Am I that old?” he asks in an almost exasperated manner, when we begin with the subject of age. As if he doesn’t know. “I guess I have been here a while, but I always feel there is so much more to do, without a clue as to what that actually is.”

The truth is the Silence of the Lambs star is one of the sharpest implements in the movie world’s toolbox and more than capable of shaping his own future for another couple of decades yet. “I’ve never considered age because I’ve never felt it advancing,” he follows, “and I never worry about what’s to come… it’s just not bloody worth it.”

The Welshman’s approach to life offers an intriguing insight into a beautifully philosophical mind. “You have to pursue each day without fear – I realised that a long time ago. It was a dawning reality that the unexpected will always come along, and when it does you’d better be ready for it… but for goodness sake don’t dread it.

“As human beings on this planet we have precious little control over any of it, to the extent that you simply have to laugh off a lot of what happens and embrace the good stuff. As I’ve said before, we don’t need natural disasters to ruin our lives – we are the natural disasters!”

While Sir Anthony takes a slightly disturbed pleasure in painting a picture of natural and human destruction, it’s less Hannibal Lecter peeking out from beneath the mask and more him simply ‘having fun’. Artistically, you’re much more likely to find him these days playing about with acrylic, ink, photographic paper and canvases the size of entire walls.

“I love to paint, I love to create,” he says. “It’s been a great release for me to let all these ideas and expression flood out.

“People think you have that outlet as an actor, but in many ways you’re imprisoned by a script. With art it is what’s there from the inside, and the older I’ve got the become I’ve found it fantastically therapeutic – I would recommend it to anyone.”

The Remains of The Day, Amistad, Nixon and Hitchcock actor suggests similar creative energy should be applied to music. “My goodness, how valuable is that?” he asks. “The piano to me is a world of notes and sounds, and again something I can invest in creatively.

“Should I do that or watch the banality of the news? Should I be told what to think and say? I can’t stand that world; that world of opinion and conjecture – who even are these people on the news?

“I’ve lived through that for decades and, over time, you come to realise all that really matters is what comes out of your own mind. These people you see are so angry and possessed by life.

“The only way to live longer and to live happier is to lighten up, lose the ego, laugh, embrace your creative spirit and draw in the love of those around you – enjoy what it is to live. And turn off the telly.”

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Karen Anne

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