Anthony Hopkins Says The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter Is ‘One of the Best Parts I’ve Ever Read’ (Exclusive)

Thirty years after its creation The Silence of the LambsAnthony Hopkins says Hannibal Lecter is still “one of the best parts I’ve ever read.”

Speaking to PEOPLE, the 86-year-old, who won his first Best Actor Oscar for playing a psychiatrist and psychotic cannibal in the 1991 film based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 bestseller, reveals he hasn’t seen the film in “years.”

But he still remembers getting the script from his agent while he was doing the play M. Butterfly in London: “He said, ‘I want you to read this.’ I said, ‘Is that an offer?’ He said: “It’s a movie with Jodie Foster called The Silence of the Lambs.’”

Because of the title, “I thought it was a children’s story,” says Hopkins, now playing Sigmund Freud in the film Freud’s last session.

Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. Ken Regan/Orion/Kobal/Shutterstock

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“So I opened it. I was sitting in the dressing room in the theater and I was reading the first scene of Lecter. I said, ‘Is this an offer?’ He said, ‘I’m not sure.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to read any more, because this is one of the best parts I’ve ever read.'”

It turned out that director Jonathan Demme wanted Hopkins for the part and flew to London from New York to see Hopkins in the play, according to Hopkins.

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“After that we went out and had some dinner. And I said, ‘Why did you put me in?’ He said, ‘Why? Are you having problems?’ I said, ‘No, no. Why did you give me the role?'” the actor recalls.

“We talked, but I knew how to play the part,” Hopkins continues. “And I don’t know. I have an instinct for those roles. I could understand Lecter. I could understand the mystery of the man, the loner, the isolated voice in the dark, the man at the top of the stairs who isn’t really there.”

Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. Everett

In the film, his character, locked up in an institution for the criminally insane, is interviewed by FBI intern Clarice Starling (Foster), who hopes to gain insight into another serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), who kidnaps and skins women. the skin.

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The two develop a strange relationship and respect for each other, despite their obvious differences.

Hopkins says working with Foster was a pleasure.

“She’s lovely,” he says. “What’s wonderful about Jodie is that the great actress that she is, she has no entourage. She just comes on set and does it. Very relaxed. Very cool. What I like about her is that she is very practical.”

Freud’s last session it’s in theaters now.

Find out more about Anthony Hopkins in the new issue of PEOPLE.

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Source: HIS Education