Anthony Hopkins on King Lear

Anthony Hopkins stars as King Lear in the Amazon version of the play directed by Richard Eyre. Sir Anthony previously starred in the Golden Globe nominated BBC TV movie The Dresser also directed by Eyre. That film (a remake of the 1983 version which earned 5 Globe nominations and a win for Tom Courtenay), narrates the travails of an aging actor playing in a production of Lear. Hopkins told the HFPA’s Jenny Cooney how he convinced Eyre to film the actual play – and how, at 80, he feels he finally understands the tragic monarch.

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[dracher]

Anthony Hopkins has given us his King Lear (or perhaps one of them) and a mighty and fascinating Lear he is. Every inch a king, he is in control, commanding sure of himself and on the move, in spite of age, or maybe because of it.
This Lear is no ancient king in ancient times, no poetic and souring mouthpiece conveying iambic pentameter and sounding mysterious and dramatic. This is a Lear for all times and places, a king who thinks he is in no doubt until he suddenly experiences the blunt end of power and the cold isolation of homelessness. Forget about the mirror up to nature, here he stares it in the face, coldly and alone. Nothing shall come of nothing....Lear's ordeal brings back his lost sanity and with it an understanding of a basic human element, one for so long absent in his case; love.

A fine production, a fine cast, with outstanding characterizations by Anthony Hopkins as Lear, and by Emma Thompson as Goneril.

[danielmedina]

Best thing I've seen in a long long time.