Hopkins slams Hollywood "insanity"

Just hours after the 78th Annual Academy Awards ceremony reached its conclusion, legendary British actor Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Remains Of The Day, The Mask Of Zorro, Red Dragon) has launched an astonishing attack on Hollywood.

Welsh-born Hopkins, 68, a veteran of nearly 100 feature films, criticised Tinsel Town for its "insanity" and for losing sight of the audience in becoming so engrossed in elaborate filmmaking.

The actor made the damming comments in an interview with the Radio Times, intended to be about his forthcoming film The World's Fastest Indian but Hopkins clearly had another agenda to air.

"Audiences aren't as mindless as moviemakers think," said Hopkins, who won an Oscar in 1992 for his role in defining film The Silence Of The Lambs.

"I'm also tired of the camera moving all over the place, with car chases so cut and edited you don't know what's happening," he added. "It's condescending."

But Hopkins, who also has Mission Impossible II, Amistad and Bram Stoker's Dracula on his CV, wasn't done there and lambasted the attitudes of new and fellow actors, who perform without due respect for others.

"I enjoy acting more now than ever because I treat it as an enjoyable hobby. I don't take this acting business seriously – you can't get caught up in the self-importance," he added.

"People bow to your every wish and you forget where you come from and what you're doing. I recently worked with two actors who wouldn't come out of their trailers for some reason. Can you figure that out? Or they complain because their trailers aren't big enough.

"It's a job, like any other, so don't make a big deal. Be polite, treat the crew with respect and don't think you're different."

In addition to Roger Donaldson's The World's Fastest Indian, which opens in the UK this Friday, Sir Anthony is also involved in seven other projects at various stages of completion.

All the King's Men is now completed, while three others - Bobby, Fracture and Beowulf - are all nearing completion.

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