“Now I am ready to become a god,” says Anthony Hopkins as the Emperor Vespasian in the Roland Emmerich directed Those About to Die.
Of course, as ruler of Rome in the year 79 CE, the victor of the infamous Year of the Four Emperors was for all practical purposes a god on Earth. Which makes the portrayal of the former general who built what we now call the Colosseum by an 86-year-old Welshman widely considered the greatest living actor of our time all the more fitting.
“It was a big, big production,” Hopkins says of the epic scale July 18-launching series on Peacock from the Independence Day helmer. “It’s good.”
In fact, as the NBCUniversal streamer prepares for the Paris Olympics later this month, the 10-espiode first season of Those About to Die puts the power and prestige of competition into a grand perspective. A gladiatorial perspective that offers with a cast including Game of Thrones vet Iwan Rheon, Gabriella Pession and Sara Martins, a clear-eyed view of blood soaked Imperial streets, sex, wealth and power with Hopkins at the center.
RELATED: ‘Those About To Die’: First Look At Anthony Hopkins & More In Roland Emmerich’s Roman Empire Series
Insisting on being called Tony, Sir Anthony spoke with me about Those About to Die, his very non-method method as an actor, Donald Trump’s obsession with Hannibal Lecter, his forthcoming autobiography, and doing the just right amount of research for a role.
DEADLINE: So, Tony, you have played presidents, you have played popes, you have played Freud, and you have played Lear. Of course, you have played a Norse God and the world’s most famous serial killer, more than once, but now you’re playing a Roman emperor, the founder of the Flavian dynasty, in Roland Emmerich’s Those About to Die. What drew you to this role?
ANTHONY HOPKINS: They offered me the role.
DEADLINE: (laughs) And then how did you research for this role for yourself?
HOPKINS: I didn’t.
DEADLINE: You went purely by the script?
HOPKINS: Yeah. Totally.
I mean, you know, I checked it out. I heard about Vespasian and I’d heard about Domitian and Titus. I’d heard about them, but honestly, I was more interested in the previous history of Caligula, Tiberius, and all that lot, and Nero. With Vespasian, I didn’t know much about him. So, I did a little bit of reading, but now I don’t do that much research.
DEADLINE: Why?
HOPKINS: I find it a waste of time, doesn’t add anything, doesn’t change the cellular structure of the bod. What I realized was that with his two sons, he has a problem. They’re easily distracted as young kids are. So, okay, I’m going be angry. You’re got to be really strong and I’m going save this mess with you.
DEADLINE: Unlike a lot of your contemporaries, you have done quite a bit of television over the years. So, in that context, what was surprising to you about Those About to Die?
HOPKINS: Well, the vastness of it. It was a big, big production. It’s good. I’ve done a few television shows. I did something called Westworld. I enjoyed it too. It’s a faster turnaround. You’d have to work double you know to get the episodes and all that. On film you have a bit more luxury.
Look, I’m lucky to be in the movie business, and just lucky to be still making movies, and television that’s just as good.
DEADLINE: You know a lot of people nowadays would say how incredibly lucky you are to be working with the state of the industry right now.
HOPKINS: Tell me about it. The pandemic did a lot of damage. I wake up every morning and talk to my agent and he says “Tony, you’re lucky. I say, yeah, don’t jinx it.
DEADLINE: In that, it is legendary how you go over and over your lines in a script until they are committed to memory. Earlier you mentioned how you do some research to go with the script. Is that different with contemporaries or recent living figures like Sir Nicholas George Winton or even Richard Nixon?
HOPKINS: With Nicholas Winton I just watched a documentary film on him. You know, because he was a contemporary, I watched the way he walked and things like that. I tried to get a sense of his vocal delivery. I’ve got a fairly good ear for that, although I’m from Wales and he wasn’t.
With Nixon, particularly with Nixon, I watched endless documentaries on Nixon and his goodbye to the White House. But that’s all.
DEADLINE: It’s amazing…
HOPKINS: Well, thank you. I don’t do any massive inner workings, and I believe that you just have to learn the text. I think, you know, trying to do a lot of research doesn’t help. It may be entertaining for your intellect, but finally, it doesn’t help you at all.
DEADLINE: Do you think it can muddle the process?
HOPKINS: I think so. Yeah. Yeah. Because if you take it all too seriously, then you say, but he did this and he did that, drives the director crazy. I don’t need that. Yeah, some actors say let’s get right into it. I say, can’t you just speak the lines?
DEADLINE: You must enjoy speaking the lines, because you have so many projects on the go right now. With all you’ve accomplished, with two Academy Awards, a knighthood and more, why?
HOPKINS: Why? Because I’m lucky to be alive.
I’m 86 and I wake up in the morning and go “oh, I’m still here.” I have a sense of mischief about it.
Sadly, I’m going to look back on my contemporaries, many of them have gone by, you know, God bless them. But no, I’m just very grateful to be here. The wonderful thing is the freedom I have now is knowing with certainty that I cannot take credit for any of it.
DEADLINE: Oh!
HOPKINS: No, 60 years ago, 60 odd years ago, I remember saying to my parents, I said one day I will show you. For some reason that somebody else wrote my life. I didn’t write it.
DEADLINE: Perhaps, but you are writing it now. How is the autobiography going?
HOPKINS: I’ve had some good responses, but it’s not finished yet.
DEADLINE: Are you working on it as we speak?
HOPKINS: I’m taking a break from it for a few weeks. I’m going away next week. So, I’m going to start writing it again after that. It’s a tough one.
DEADLINE: How?
HOPKINS: It’s a process I’m not happy with, I don’t enjoy doing it. But then …well, the thing is part of me does enjoy it.
DEADLINE: What part do you enjoy?
HOPKINS: The process of self-discovery. I discovered a lot about my childhood, which was good.
You know, I am a lucky guy.
I was given the best opportunities in life, although I didn’t always deserve them because I was pretty stupid in school and all that. My parents gave me a good education, my father, mother, but made hard sacrifices for me. I’ve tended to let them down. Then one day I said “I’ll show you.” And they lived to see it, which was great.
DEADLINE: Watching your performance of this old man ruling an empire and maneuvering around the jockeying for position, especially amongst his two sons, it seemed like there was some Joe Biden in your Vespasian, a rule in the last year of his reign.
HOPKINS: No, but interesting.
But I will say, there’s a scene on the balcony where I’m looking vague. I think because, it’s just an idea, I think it was written in the script that I’m beginning to lose it you know. It was just that written in the script. So, I just followed suit and pretend as if I’m not sure where I’m going or where I am. But, I’ve learned, that can happen at any age. So, no, I wasn’t conscious of that Biden aspect of it at all.
DEADLINE: I have to mention your one of your greatest characters, Hannibal Lecter …
HOPKINS: Why?
DEADLINE: Because he’s come up a lot during this election campaign here in America with Donald Trump speaking about him at his rallies as if he’s a real person.
HOPKINS: As if he is real?
DEADLINE: Yes
HOPKINS: (laughs) I didn’t know that. (laughs again) Hannibal, that’s a long time ago that movie. God, that was over 30 years ago. I’m shocked and appalled what you’ve told me about Trump.
DEADLINE: Sorry about that.
HOPKINS: Oh, it’s alright. I think we’re okay. I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’m sorry I can’t elaborate on stuff I do. I’ve always kept it, especially in later years, kept it very simple.
DEADLINE: Nothing wrong with simple and sweet…
HOPKINS: I know my answers may be offensive to some. People say: “how can you say that?” Well, it’s easy because I’ve been doing it a long time. I’m just lucky to be alive and lucky to do what I do. It’s a state of constant surprise that I’m still here. Still doing it. So, I say to my friends out there. Stay healthy, stay strong.
DEADLINE: That could be that strong Welsh blood and spirit.
HOPKINS: Yeah, I think so.
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