Sir Anthony Hopkins has a lot of fond memories when it comes to his The Silence of the Lambs days.
In his new memoir, We Did OK, Kid, the actor, 87, recalled reading the movie’s script for the first time — and the epiphany that came over him.
“When I read those lines, I knew the character instantly. The pattern of his personality clicked in my mind,” he wrote in the book, which was published Tuesday, November 4. “Lecter is described as a monster. That was my clue. Do not play the monster. Play a quiet, friendly version.”
Hopkins starred as Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 movie and went up against Jodie Foster, who played FBI agent Clarice Starling.
“When Lecter meets Clarice for the first time, he is impressed by her professional courage,” Hopkins wrote. “A young woman against an older male serial killer. She seeks Dr. Lecter’s help and guidance, but first Lecter plays with her. He tests her.”
After agreeing to take on the role, it became one of Hopkins’ most memorable characters, even winning him an Academy Award. Keep scrolling for all his quotes about the film from We Did OK, Kid:
Feeling Unsure
While Hopkins admittedly knew that the Lecter role was for him, he was worried about being Welsh. The actor even recalled asking the film’s director, the late Jonathan Demme, if he would prefer an American to play the serial killer.
“He laughed and said, ‘Don’t you want to do it?’” Hopkins wrote. “I knew they had nothing to worry about because I instinctively sensed exactly how to play Hannibal. I have the devil in me. We all have the devil in us. I know what scares people.”
Creating the Character
Hopkins was inspired by his own “terrible fear” of spiders.
“One night I switched on the light in my father’s bakery, and right next to the switch was a huge black spider — patient and still, yet completely alert at the same time. I almost jumped through the roof,” Hopkins wrote. “That was the effect I wanted to have as Hannibal.”
Working With Jodie Foster
There were a few factors that kept Foster and Hopkins from crossing paths too much while filming the movie. Initially, it was his performance at the table read.
“A couple of seconds after I started to speak as Lecter, I saw Jodie grow tense,” he recalled in the book. “She later confirmed that she had been petrified. And that slight distance between us remained throughout the filming.”
The second aspect was the “glass-box cell” Hopkins was in while shooting.
“There’s the thick glass barrier of the cell between us. We had to shoot one person’s side for a day or half a day, and then we’d turn and do the other part,” he explained. “It took about 20 minutes to get me in and out of that set, so I wasn’t really able to chat with Jodie or anyone else in those times.”
However, they were able to create a bond during a lunch break in between scenes.
“Jodie put down her tuna sandwich and said she had to confess something: She’d been scared of me,” Hopkins recalled, noting that he was “scared” of Foster as well. But they shared “a big hug” and chalked it up to the tense nature of the film. “Since then, we’ve always greeted each other with great warmth,” he added.
Dodging the Oscars
Hopkins thought he had no shot at an Academy Award win for his role — so he “tried to get out” of attending the awards ceremony. He didn’t want to be “disrespectful,” so he attended and ended up winning in the Best Actor category.
“I remember getting up onstage. Kathy Bates handed me the Oscar. Apparently I gave a speech,” he recalled. “Then, I was taken backstage. Questions by journalists. It all went well. I’d made it through with little or no anxiety.”
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