Life's Illusions He Recalls
Anthony Hopkins makes his first film, and it's a dream.
October 17, 2007
By Dany Margolies
Readers of Back Stage have become accustomed to our articles about
young actors who grow weary of the struggle for roles and who
therefore become filmmakers. But even the legends occasionally feel
the need to create a film from start to finish. The résumé of Anthony
Hopkins includes 40 years of credits--as varied as Magic, The
Elephant Man, A Chorus of Disapproval, The Silence of the Lambs,
Remains of the Day, Nixon, and The Human Stain. So, what was the
impetus to write, direct, and appear in his own maiden film,
Slipstream? As you will glean from his comments, the film is a rule-
breaking, wonderfully strange vision of life--in this case the life
of a screenwriter.
Back Stage: You've had a comfortable career, let's say. Why did you
now decide you wanted to break out?
Anthony Hopkins: Well, I've done long bouts of acting, and I've done
films--some good, some not so good--and it's the same old stuff. I
thought, "Oh, I get bored of this." I've had a good life with it, but
I got to an age where I thought, "I want to do something else, just
for the fun of it." I wrote this script three or four years ago. I
sat down at the computer, and I thought, "I think I'll write a
script." I know that I'm not a professional writer, but I can write a
letter, I can write a laundry list, so I can write. I thought, "I
don't care what the quality of writing is like; just do what I know
how."
I wrote by sheer instinct; scene followed scene. I didn't have any
plot line. I had no idea what the film was about, where it was going.
And I just wrote it. I can recall writing the very first scene--on
the road, the big car smash, the idea of an impact. And then going to
the second scene. And I thought, "This is interesting." And then the
racetrack scene. I just let it flow. As it went on, I let it take me.
So I suppose I was writing from an unconscious or a subconscious. I
didn't have any fear of it. I thought, "What are they going to do,
shoot me if I don't make a good film?" I didn't even have an
intention of making a film. I just wrote a script just for my own
sense of creative exercise--something to do.
It took me about two, three weeks. But I didn't do it every day. I
suppose I did it over a period of 10 days. I'd take days off. I sit
down and think, "Alright, where are we now?" And I'd just touch the
computer, and off it would go. I finally finished it. I didn't edit.
But then I showed it to a few people, and they said, "God, this is
really strange, wacko stuff. You ought to do a movie of this." And
then I thought, "Well, maybe I ought to do it as a movie." I started
looking around to raise some cash. I sent the script to Spielberg and
asked him if he would give me a critique of it. He thought it was
really terrific. He said there was really terrific dialogue. He
said, "You should make a movie of it, and let me know when you're
editing; I'd love to come by." I never did phone him, because he's a
busy guy, and I didn't want to be a kiss-ass.
Anyway, it came to a point, my wife, Stella Arroyave, produced. And
then we got [another] producer, Robert Katz. He was terrific; he
believed in it. We'd gone through the usual route of people
saying, "Oh, yes, we're very excited, but we want to talk about final
cuts and rewrites." I said, "No. Bye-bye." I was polite, but that's
it: "Thank you very much for your time." And I went to Robert Katz,
and he said, "Yes, I believe in it. Let's do it." And we put the cast
together [and] got Christian Slater. I wrote the part for Christian,
although I didn't know Christian that well, but I had seen him, and I
was very impressed, and I thought, "This would be a great part for
Christian Slater." And then John Turturro. And then we put the [rest
of the] cast together: Camryn Manheim, Epatha Merkerson….
Back Stage: I think the casting is an unusual mix of great people.
Can you recall specifically how you approached them?
Hopkins: I called Christian Slater and sent him the script. He read
it and said, "Yeah, man, I'd love to do it." He didn't know if he was
going to be available, because he was in England at the time, doing a
play. Then he said, "Yah, I'm going to be available." So he came
over. John Turturro wasn't sure if he'd be available to do it, but he
said, "Strange script. I'd love to do it, though." And then we put
calls out to [other] people. Camryn Manheim I wanted as the script
supervisor [in the film]. Gavin Grazer, who plays the director, I
wrote it for Gavin as well, because Gavin's a close friend of mine.
But the big attraction was when I sent it to Dante Spinotti, who's
such a great cinematographer. I'd worked with Dante years before, and
my wife said, "Why don't you just send it to Dante?" I said, "Nah, he
wouldn't do this. He's a big shot." But he phoned me and said, "Tony,
I'd love to do it." He said it was the best experience he's ever had,
because he loved the outrageousness of it.
We shot it on digital, high-definition. That was Dante's idea. We had
a schedule of 37 days. [Then] I spent four months in the editing room
with Michael Miller. I wanted to break all the rules and throw
everything out the window. I believe that if you just do something--
people said, "How do you do this?" I said, "Just do it." We live in a
world of such rules and laws and formats and this, that, and the
other, and conventions--which are okay, but why not do something for
the hell of it? And that's what I did, for the hell of it, for my own
personal gratification. It's my movie: I own it; nobody can touch it.
Whether it's ever seen, I don't know, but I did it. That was a great
achievement for me.
Back Stage: This is your first full-control directing job.
Hopkins: I enjoyed the independent nature of it. Most of the actors
enjoyed it. One or two complained bitterly. I won't work with them
again.
Back Stage: I think a lot of actors like to work with first-time
directors. Your very first day, was it a strange experience to be in
the position of director?
Hopkins: No, no. I'd just got the crew together. We were up in the
desert, in Lancaster [Calif.], outside this diner. I said, "Here we
are; we've got a 37-day schedule. No pressure. I don't want anyone to
rush around. It's very hot. Watch out for the rattlesnakes in the
grass. Drink plenty of water. I just ask you to have a good time and
just relax, and we'll get it done." And we knocked two days off the
schedule. So everyone was relaxed, and we didn't push. And I believe
that's the best way to go.
Back Stage: What else did you do to prepare, technically, for that
first day? Did you have rehearsals?
Hopkins: No, never. No rehearsal. I just had a rough camera plot. I
had a production assistant; he organized the scenes. And I said to
Dante, "This is the shot I'd like to do." And he said, "Okay, good."
I said, "Let's set it up." And we shot very fast. Two, three takes--
that was the maximum. It keeps everyone on their toes. At the end of
the day, people would be tired, but they would feel they did a good
day's work.
Back Stage: You didn't want the actors to rehearse?
Hopkins: No. Christian Slater saved the day. He came into the diner
scene, and he just took it over. It was wonderful. I just pointed the
camera at him. Well, we had a rehearsal, naturally--sort of blocking.
I said, "Why don't you move into that seat, there, if that's okay,
and then the waitress comes over, so at this point I'd like you to
get up." And he said, "Okay." So he did it. And suddenly he started
to move around. I thought, "Oh, God, this is terrific." And he
changed the whole scene around; he just took it over. I was very
grateful to him. He knocked at least two days off the schedule.
Back Stage: What things did the other actors do, what did they bring
to their roles, that surprised you?
Hopkins: I just let them go. I didn't interfere with them. Camryn
Manheim was wonderful. And Epatha Merkerson. I just let them go and
have a ball with it. And Michael Clarke Duncan, he did a performance
which was surprisingly different from what I perceived. He was
terrific. They all were.
Back Stage: How was it different from what you expected?
Hopkins: There's a scene around the trash bins at night, when he's
got a bullet hole in his head. He did it in a way which was so
different and much more powerful: very quietly. I wrote it for some
guy who's in a rage. But Michael took it in a different way. I was so
pleased, and kind of shocked, I forgot my own lines. And Camryn
Manheim: There was a lot of improv, as well. There were scenes which
had a basic line of story, but I realized that the way I plotted it
out it would take a week to do them. So I said, "Okay, let's just
improvise this. Just go for it."
Back Stage: What things happened that made you recollect your acting
experiences with other directors?
Hopkins: There was one actor who was really inexperienced. He was
good actor, but he'd never really been in a movie before. He tended
to do a little bit of overacting. I said, "Do nothing. Just speak the
line and stay still. Don't jig around, don't gesture. You don't need
it." And he was very funny; very, very good he was in the scene.
Back Stage: Any other difficulties that made you think back to advice
you'd heard?
Hopkins: There was one person who was difficult on the set. He had a
big storm one day. He'd show up late. And he blew up one day, with
the producer. I didn't say anything. I thought, "Oh well. That's up
to him." But I just let him do [his work]. And he was very good in
the film. But, no, I didn't have any shootouts with the actors. For
one, I hate shouting at people.
Back Stage: Did you do anything to coax performances out of actors?
Hopkins: Oh, there was another actor who was playing a smaller part,
a very good actor, a friend of mine. I think he was a little
intimidated, because he had a pretty rough time in this business; he
hadn't worked much. He got on the set, and he was so muted and quiet
and nervous. One day he was standing by the camera while they were
setting up a shot, and I saw him, and the light was very peculiar.
And I said, "Just stand there a moment. Just say this one line." It
was a line about some kind of anxiety, some recall, that made him
fearful. And I said, "That's it! That's the performance that I want
you to give." And of course, in the scene, he really goes berserk.
You know, people have nerves, they're frightened. So you just try to
stand back, let them relax, and be watchful to see what they are
presenting to you. And if it's too much, say, "Okay, that's good.
[Pause] Let's try it again; you can do less than that." And that's
what I do.
Back Stage: Would you write and direct again?
Hopkins: Yes, but it will be low-budget. It will be my movie. And I
would use some of the same cast, I guess. I started writing one a few
weeks ago, then I left it to clear my brain, and maybe I'll go back
to it. I don't know. Easy come, easy go in my life!
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