Anthony Hopkins Oscar Winning Performance - Essay Example

?A Critique of Sir Anthony Hopkins's Oscar winning performance of Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of The Lambs.' By Date A Critique of Sir Anthony Hopkins's Oscar winning performance of Hannibal Lecter in 'The Silence of The Lambs.' Welsh born actor Anthony Hopkins was a well-known, talented actor on the stages of London and New York. However, his award winning performance of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 Hollywood film, Silence of the Lambs, brought Hopkins immeasurable fame.1 Hopkins resurrected the role of Hannibal Lecter once again in the Hollywood film Hannibal in 2002 and again in the 2003 film The Red Dragon.2 According to Shaw, Hannibal Lecter, became a “phenomenon” and a “brand”, in Hollywood “unmatched in the history of Hollywood”. 3 Hannibal was by all accounts an evil, savage, cannibal and serial killer and yet he became an enthralling, and often sympathetic character.4 The fact that a psychiatrist who murders and then eats his patients could become such a captivating character is puzzling.5 When Hopkins meets the FBI agent for the first time, I could not help thinking that he while he seemed to be toying with her, he had some degree of respect and suspicion in his interaction with her and Hopkins gave these impressions through body language and inflection. At one point he winked at her as if to share a private joke and at another point, he smiled at her, giving the impression that he had normal feelings. In my opinion, Hopkins brought a very complex character to life in a realistic and convincing way. Lecter was “psychopathic personality evidenced by his superficial charm, manipulativeness and lack of remorse of empathy for the victims”.6 For example, when the agent interviewing Lecter mentioned that serial killers usually kept a relic of their victims, Lecter interjected, “I didn’t” in a matter of fact way. When the agent said, “you ate your victims”, Lecter simply moved along with the conversation as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said and showed absolutely no reaction to this shocking revelation. In my opinion it was Hopkins’ portrayal of Lecter that brought these personality traits to life and endeared him to audiences. It was Hopkins’ portrayal of Lecter that brought the character and its portrayer fame. After all, Lecter was previously portrayed by actor Brian Cross and introduced him to the screen, it was Hopkins’ Lecter that made the greatest impression and immortalized him.7 Hannibal Lecter was a brutal cannibal and there was nothing sympathetic about the character and it was not intended that Lecter was sympathetic. Lecter is “revoltingly evil, a characterization brought chillingly to life for millions by Anthony Hopkins” in Silence of the Lamb.8 For example when discussing the murder of a former patient, Lecter denies killing his patient but states without emotion that it was best for him “as his therapy was going nowhere anyway”. However, Barr explains that Hopkins was brilliant in how he chose to play Lecter.9 Hopkins portrayed an ordinary man who did extraordinary deeds and came across as a man you would not run away from if you happened to come across him on the streets. I observed this in his demeanour as he urged the FBI agent in training to show her credentials and when she did, he urged her to come closer, as if he did not think she should fear a man like him. In other words, Hopkins played Lecter as though, Lecter thought of himself as normal and this brought both sympathy to the character and made him likable and evil all at the same time. One acting technique that Hopkins brought to the character of Lecter was his refusal to judge the character. As Hopkins himself said: …As an actor, I can’t judge because moral judgement gets in the way of the characterization. If you start doing that, you end up playing the character like a zombie or a vauderville villain.10 In other words, Hopkins took and inside-out approach to his portrayal of Lecter. He portrayed the character by stepping into the character’s life and living the character’s life permitting the audience to pass their own judgments. Chubbuck also notes that by reserving judgment on Lecter, Hopkins was able to free himself of moral judgment and was therefore at liberty to take a journey uncovering all of the complexities of Lecter and thus bringing a convincingly complicated man to life through a complicated performance. Hopkins took the position that his character was damaged by previous experiences and his killing and cannibalism was a symptom of those experiences. Thus, Hopkins’ own objectivity not only rendered Lecter a character of substance, but also lent a measure of integrity to the Silence of the Lambs.11 According to Chubbuck Hopkins used another unique technique in his portrayal of Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. Hopkins did not just study his lines. He read the entire manuscript so that he could gain a more comprehensive perspective on the character he portrayed. By reading the entire manuscript, Hopkins did not just learn how his character responded to other characters, but he learned how other characters responded to and saw Sir Hopkins. By taking this approach, Hopkins knew how to perform to bring out the reactions or to influence the impact of the reactions that Hopkins received from others character.12 Hopkins also made other associations in bringing Lecter to life on screen. He used an acting technique described as “constructive imagination”.13 According to Sononberg, constructive imagination is a technique in which the actor compares and contrasts, and analyses the information contained in the manuscript and filters it “back through” his or her “own experiences” and usually makes “something new” of it.14 When something new emerges, the actor can use impulses to seek into the acting and this makes the performance more natural.15 I noticed that there were several times in the film where Sir Hopkins let this eyes tell the story. The eyes were often probing, haunting and at the same time damning and belittling. For example, there was a time when the FBI agent trainee was telling Lecter about her painful childhood experiences and Lecter would ask a probing question, in which he would pause between words, letting his words hang in the air for effect while he maintained eye contact with her for effect while silence filled the air between them. There were other times, where Hopkins had no dialogue and appeared in a frame, he continued to inject the complexity of his character in non-verbal expressions through the eyes. For example, he would watch the speaker intently, as if his mind was always working. In my opinion, Hopkins brought Lecter to life every moment of every frame and gave Lecter his own unique identity. In the final analysis, I would go so far as to state that Hopkins’ performance was flawless and he had great on-screen chemistry with his co-star Jodie Foster, playing the FBI agent in training. The bond that the actors formed via their characters, made the characters all the more likable and memorable. Hopkins has played a number of memorable characters throughout this acting career. However, there is none more memorable than Hannibal Lecter from the Silence of the Lambs. Thanks to Hopkins flawless performance of Lecter, Lecter is perhaps the most memorable character in Hollywood cinema. Works Cited Barr, Tony. Acting for the Camera. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2012. Chubbuck, Ivana. The Power of the Actor. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2005. DeLisi, Matt.; Vaughn, Michael, G.; Beaver, Kevin, M. and Wright, John, Paul. “The Hannibal Lecter Myth: Psychopathy and Verbal Intelligence in the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study.” Journal of Psychopathology Behavioral Assessment, June 30th, 2009: 1-9. Gabbard, Glen, O. and Gabbard, K. Psychiatry and the Cinema. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1999. Gramlich, Charles. “Afterword: Mythmaker.” In Szumskyj, Benjamin. (Ed.) Dissecting Hannibal Lecter: Essays on the Novels of Thomas Harris. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008. Osnes, Beth. Acting: An International Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2002. Shaw, Daniel. “The Mastery of Hannibal Lecter.” In Schneider, Steven, Jay and Shaw, Daniel. (Eds.) Dark Thoughts; Philosophic Reflections on Cinematic Horror. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003. Sonenberg, Janet. Dreamwork for Actors. New York, NY: Routledge, 2003. Turnbull, Sue. “The Best Serial Killer Novel: Red Dragon.” In McKee, Allan. (Ed.) Beautiful Things in Popular Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007, Ch. 3. Weston, Judith. Directing Actors. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 1996. Williams, Tony. “From Red Dragon to Manhunter.” In Szumskyj, Benjamin. (Ed.) Dissecting Hannibal Lecter: Essays on the Novels of Thomas Harris. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2008. Wisker, Gina. Horror Fiction: An Introduction. New York, NY: The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2005. Read More