London, Feb 2 (IANS) Veteran actor Sir Anthony Hopkins never enjoyed working in the theatre and also found the movie industry frustrating at times.
‘I did some Shakespeare. Jesus Christ – Never again. You always have an illusion about yourself that nobody can wait to see your next big Shakespeare performance,’ contactmusic.com quoted him as saying.
‘I’ve been onstage in Shakespeare and seen people in the front row fast asleep. That was the wake-up moment for me. That was my swansong. I left.’
‘In the theatre, people talk, talk until the cows come home about journeys of discovery and about what Hazlitt thought of a line of Shakespeare. I can’t stand it.’
It is not only the response of theatre critics who irritate Anthony, 73, as the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ star admits he also finds the film industry frustrating.
‘Hundreds of years ago, I was in a film that I won’t name. I remember sitting in the audience at the Ziegfield with the studio heads and actors. I could barely keep awake yet all around me, people are crying they’re so moved. I thought this is the slowest film I’ve ever seen. I must have a heart of stone,’ he said.
‘At the party afterwards, they said: ‘Tony, it’s awesome. Amazing.’ But of course, the notices were disastrous. From then on, I thought eff it. That’s how I’ve treated it ever since. I honestly don’t give a s**t,’ he said.
