October 15, 2007

What to Watch: Tonight on Cable

James Lipton draws out the best in Sir Anthony Hopkins

Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein

TEA WITH LIPTON: Sir Anthony Hopkins on Bravo.

It looks like host James Lipton needed a truck to haul his blue index cards to Los Angeles, site of tonight’s Inside The Actors Studio. It was worth the effort.

Any fan of Hopkins, of course, will eat this stuff up (no, not in the Hannibal Lecter sense), but casual fans may become hooked, too.

Lipton can be an intimidating host, and often his guests need to warm to him. Ten years after his first appearance on Lipton's ITAS, the press-shy Hopkins, however, appears ready from the start.

He talks openly about his 15 years of alcoholism, joking about his childhood in Wales (his father called him Charlie, his grandfather called him George, “that’s why I’m here today — I’m totally mixed up,” he says).

Well, not too mixed up—his laidback philosophy seems sound, now that he’s a success. “If I never make another film or walk on stage ever again, the world will not come to an end. That’s a very comforting thought,” he says. And, “today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday.”

Later he recites verse from Dylan Thomas, and does what Lipton says is a good imitation of the author. He also does an excellent imitation of Sir John Gielgud, but is not quite as good with Sir Laurence Olivier. Regardless, it’s an unscripted look at the master actor.

Then there’s the discussion of craft. Hopkins tells us he reads a script roughly 250 times before he goes on set, although he doesn’t like rehearsing, he’d rather do it. He muses that perhaps he’s a shallow actor. He lets the audience do the work, he says. The audience is frightened of Hannibal Lecter “not because I’m frightening, but because they frightened themselves…that’s the game of acting.” As Stevens the butler in Remains of the Day, he observes, “I played a repressed man by standing very still.”

And there’s the fun. He and his wife love to drive the backroads of Anthony’s new country (he became a U.S. citizen seven years ago—Spielberg filmed his swearing in ceremony). And the best: Lipton gets Hopkins to admit he barks like a dog on the set sometimes. “If things get too serious,” he says.

The serious business of promoting films will be on display. After tonight’s show, Hopkins can be seen on the far less cerebral Live with Regis and Kelly Wednesday as he touts a new version of Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis and co-starring Angelina Jolie.

Inside The Actors Studio, 8pm, Monday Oct. 15, Bravo

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