Posted on 03/07/2006 6:28:34 AM PST by ex-Texan
Movie legend Sir Anthony Hopkins has criticised film bosses for making "condescending" films
"Audiences aren't so mindless as movie-makers think", he told the Radio Times magazine.
The Hollywood star's latest film, The World's Fastest Indian, is a true story about a New Zealander motorcyclist who broke the land speed record.
Sir Anthony said of the movie: "No sex or violence, and that's refreshing.
"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.
"It's condescending. Audiences aren't so mindless as movie-makers think."
He added: "If you look at The Shining or Fargo, they photograph it and let actors tell a story. That's the old-fashioned way. I hope it comes back."
The Silence of the Lambs star added that he would not put up with "tyrannical" directors any longer, adding: "I don't take this acting business seriously ... I enjoy acting more now than ever because I treat it as an enjoyable hobby.
"I can't get caught up in the self-importance. People bow to your every wish and you forget where you come from and what you're doing," he told the magazine.
"I recently worked with two actors who wouldn't come out of their trailers for some reason.
"Can you figure that out? It's insanity. Or they complain because their trailers aren't big enough.
"Bulls***. 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.
"I've worked with directors who are tyrannical and sadistic - but no longer. I'd rather do something else."
Sir Anthony, who became a US citizen in 2000, said he would never make a stage comeback.
He said: "I won't return to theatre work. It's monotonous, too much like being in prison, standing on stage in tights.
"I admire actors who can do it, and I'm sure they have a great life, but I can't stay in any one place for too long, or settle into that grey, sombre atmosphere of the Waterloo Road on a wet Wednesday afternoon.
"There's something so depressing looming across the muddy Thames from that concrete breeze block, with the smell of stale coffee, and thinking, 'Oh, God I have to do another matinee', and the luvvies and the darlings.
"They're all right, but I have better interests than sitting in Le Caprice talking about the problems of being an actor."
Love an actor who'll tell it like it is...Thanks Tony ;o)
I am a whiz at typing programming words I use in code everyday, but typing the Queens English makes me have to think.
Tom Clancy wrote about terrorists flying a plane into the Capitol building during a joint session of Congress with the POTIS and most of the Cabinet and SCOTUS also attending. Then turned it into a kick the terrorists ass book in Executive Orders. The Parliament scene could have been to set something up...
""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."
I laughed at this part--I've been complaining about this for years :-) It's like everyone in Hollywood decided to copy MTV starting somewhere in the early 1990s.
bttt
Hopkins is one of the good guys. I'm glad somebody of his stature finally brought up the point about the moving camera work. When done well, it can be very effective-it can give TV shows like 24, The Shield, and Battlestar Galactica a tense, documentary-style feel-but the rest of the time it's clearly being used by people who grew up watching music videos and playing video games. Somebody needs to teach people how to just tell a story again.
The attention span of your average MTV'er is about a single nanosecond.
Did you see "Proof"?
Yep, right you are.
You don't need to stand on a stool with sheep.
Need a stool for cows.
Kneel for pigs.
Ducks are handy, portable, convenient....kind of like Gameboys...hand held, compact.
Note: Previous post is not representative of personal beliefs, but does go to show how P.C. I am.
P.C....it's the "in thing".
"If so, I say just hand the camera to a monkey; you'll get the same result, and it'll only cost you a banana."
ROFL! Yep. . .And the cinematic quality would be about the same. I hope we don't get stuck with it permanently. Maybe if we're lucky, someday a film student will rediscover the camera techniques of the pioneers of cinema. Of course then they'd probably win an Academy Award for inventing something new, because by then no one will remember how to make a movie anymore.
"The attention span of your average MTV'er is about a single nanosecond."
My theory is that was a deliberate attempt to re-introduce subliminal advertising by another name, probably concocted by someone on Wall Street drawing from the latest in applications of hypnosis to marketing. I've thought that ever since I started noticing them overdoing super-rapid montage cutaways timed to extremely violent music. It has essentially the same effect as subliminal advertising, only it's probably not quite rapid enough to be illegal under the laws passed in the 1950s.
I prefer the Emmy-award winning version with Joss Ackland. I think anyone who has even a little distaste for Hollywood would choose the same.
Hopkins is good in "Remains of the Day."
I saw the Lindbergh story on TV when it first appeared. I also saw "Audrey Rose" on TV with Anthony Hopkins as the father of a girl who was very traumatized and always having nightmares. The story was based on a belief in reincarnation, and although I have a lot of scepticism on the subject matter, the story was fascinating and Hopkins brilliant as the father trying to determine what was wrong with his daughter.
nope. any good?
I could never catch onto code.
I enjoyed it. I found the portrayal of the insular and prestige-greedy academics very realistic.
available on rental yet? (I have not previosly heard of it)
I rarely go to theaters any more.
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