Anthony’s Anti Academy Awards
“It makes me want to throw up, it really does. It’s sick-making"
Sir Anthony Hopkins, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Hannibal Lector in The Silence of the Lambs, has labeled the Academy Awards system ‘disgusting’.
In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Hopkins voiced his concerns over the sycophantic behaviour actors are expected to show towards the Oscar judges if they are to win an award. “I’ve been around – I’ve got the Oscar myself for The Silence of the Lambs – and having to be nice to people and to be charming and flirting with them... oh, come on,” he said, with disdain. “People go out of their way to flatter the nominating body and I think it’s kind of disgusting. That’s always been against my nature.
“You know, kissing the backside of the authorities that can make or break it – I can’t stand all that. I find it nauseating to watch and I think it’s disgusting to behold. People groveling around and kissing the backsides of famous producers and all that.
“It makes me want to throw up, it really does. It’s sick-making. I’ve seen it so many times. I saw it fairly recently, last year. Some great producer-mogul and everyone kisses this guy’s backside. I think, “What are they doing? Don’t they have any self respect?’ I wanted to say, ‘Fuck off’.”
Despite having said this, Welsh-born Hopkins, 74, says he has absolutely no plans to retire. “I don’t ever want to retire. I did a few years ago. I didn’t actually plan it, but I thought, ‘Maybe I should just slow down and call it a day’. My wife said to me, ‘You do that, you will die. You can’t retire. It’s your work; it’s your life. You love working’.
“When men retire – particularly men – if they get out too early, they usually die of stress or loneliness or they drink too much or their hearts give out. I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.”
Hopkins is currently tipped for an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock in his new film, Hitchcock, which is to be released in the UK on February 8th 2013.
