Anthony Hopkins Shares insights about His battle with drinking, Anger, Oscar wins and 50 years of Sobriety

'How's the climate where you are?' asks the acclaimed actor as we start our virtual conversation. Despite living in California for many years, traces of his Welsh heritage remain apparent in his distinctive, mellifluous voice - perhaps slightly rougher than in his younger days. It's a dark evening in the British capital but a bright, sunny morning in Los Angeles, and the actor appears just as radiant in demeanour and attire, wearing a turquoise and green shirt. 'I moved here 50 years ago. People asked: 'Are you {selling out|compromising your values?' I said: 'No, I just enjoy the weather and {to get a suntan|want some sunshine.' But I appreciate Los Angeles. I've had a wonderful life here.'

Recent Challenges and Personal Loss

Life hasn't been all that great lately, in truth. In early this year, the actor's home in Pacific Palisades was destroyed by wildfires. 'It was quite a disaster,' he says, with surprisingly lighthearted tone. 'We're grateful that no one was hurt, and we got our cats and our small household {into the clear|to safety.' He had been away at the time; he and his spouse were in the Middle Eastern country, where he was presenting a concert of his own music performed by the prestigious musical ensemble. They're now in a temporary residence in the adjacent area of Brentwood. 'We lost all our possessions, but you think: 'Oh well, {at least we are alive|we still have our lives.' I have sympathy for the many individuals who have been really affected. People who were way past the age to stop working, and had worked hard over the years and now … {nothing|have nothing left.'

Ongoing Work and Recent Projects

Hopkins will be eighty-eight this winter, but obviously doesn't view himself as ready to retire. As a two-time Oscar-winner, a British knight, a fixture of pop culture and one of the highly respected performers alive, he has an embarrassment of laurels to be satisfied with, but there's still many projects planned. He's just finished a movie with Guy Ritchie, for whom he has a newfound admiration - 'He's precise in what he {wants to see|expects to achieve' - and he's coming back to Britain soon, he says, to produce a fresh film with Richard Eyre, then another one in Wales.

Early Life and Personal Struggles

However lately Hopkins has also been reflecting, too - at his whole life. His recent autobiography is quite different from your stereotypical luvvie memoir, partly because Hopkins is far from your conventional performer - even if he does encounter legendary figures such as the theatrical icon, Peter O'Toole, the film legend and Richard Burton - but primarily because he's remarkably honest about his often troubled early life. When he describes his childhood in the Welsh community of Port Talbot, the sole male child of a family of bakers, it feels like a different planet. 'My father had that approach: stop whining, cease whining, you have no idea what you're saying, stand up straight, {get on with it|move forward!' His father was also susceptible to melancholy and worry, Hopkins says. It was wartime and postwar Britain; that's simply how things were.

Youthful Difficulties

According to his recollection, the young Hopkins appears as a somewhat solitary and an eccentric. He had few friends, was often targeted and refused to attend his own celebrations. He showed so little promise at school, one educator told him he was 'a brainless carthorse. 'I was existing in fantasy, my imaginary realm, I suppose,' he says. 'I couldn't understand anything mentally or academically and that drove me into a kind of loneliness and {resentment|bitterness.' He retreated behind a façade of defiance, 'a tough stance and a cold remoteness', and that became his identity. Maybe, in a sense, he was performing even then?

Professional Journey and Breakthrough Moments

An early epiphany in terms of acting was watching Olivier's film adaptation of the Shakespeare play at school in 1949, when he was twelve. 'I was shocked by my response,' he recalls. 'I don't know what it was about that, but it created such an impact in my head, experiencing Shakespeare for the {first time|initial occasion.' He started memorising speeches from Hamlet and Julius Caesar. His family were astonished. (Many years afterward, his parent, on his final moments, asked Hopkins to recite the famous soliloquy for him.)

Memory and Technique

The actor's recall is the foundation of his acting, he says. He studies his lines numerous occasions, so every line is etched into his memory before he turns up on set. It began as a defensive strategy when he was a young actor, but it's evolved into his method. 'That was my gift, really: to understand the character so thoroughly that I had no fear. Once you know the script, you have a calmness to perform in practice, so you can truly listen to the fellow actor. The art of acting, I believe, is to be capable of hearing.'

Battle with Drinking

A domain in which he did discover similarity - excessively so - was alcohol. 'Alcohol consumption represented a family tradition,' he says. It was a theatre tradition, too. This was the period of 'rebellious youth' exemplified by John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (Hopkins had been captivated by the actor's interpretation in the fifties), and of legendary, hard-drinking 'troublemakers' like O'Toole, Oliver Reed, the Welsh performer and Richard Harris. Did he fit that description?

'Absolutely, I did. I would not be trusted, and I would have fights and argue with, especially, filmmakers. Looking back, it's completely irrational. They were attempting to perform their job; I was trying to do mine, but I couldn't accept … it wasn't criticism, I couldn't tolerate any authoritative bullying. So I'd {lash out|react violently.' He would frequently engage in physical fights in bars, too.

Turning Point

The real wake-up call came in December 1975, in LA. He woke up one morning to find his vehicle gone, and contacted his representative to inform him. 'Nobody stole it,' his manager responded. 'We found you on the road.' The actor had traveled throughout the night from the southwestern state to the luxurious neighborhood, about 500 miles, completely intoxicated. 'I was insane, I was crazy, I couldn't remember most of the trip,' he admits. 'And that represents a dangerous path to live, because I had no self-regard. I could have taken out an entire family … I realized I required assistance, I {knew it was over|understood it had to end.'

The way he narrates it, a distinct inner voice in his mind asked him if he wanted to live or perish. He replied: 'I choose life,' and the presence said, 'This chapter has ended. You can begin truly existing.' He went immediately to Alcoholics Anonymous. Following this, 'I emerged on the road, 11am, 29 December 1975, and the world appeared transformed. The atmosphere felt brighter, all things appeared increasingly … benign. No threat in the air.'

Professional Achievements and Iconic Roles

At this point Hopkins was living and working more and more in the US, and in film. 'I just wanted some sunshine, and I had no interest in standing around in wrinkled tights carrying props for the remainder of my career,' he jokes. It was his idol the legendary actor who had first coaxed him on to a movie set, in the late sixties. He approached the actor's private space at the National one day and announced, 'I want you to do a screen test for me,' Hopkins says. 'He had been drinking, and we visited the bar later.'

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