Sir Anthony Hopkins States Playing The MCU's Odin Stopped Him From Retiring

One of the greatest actors of all time is Sir Anthony Hopkins. An actor since 1967 when he did his first television film, A Flea in Her Ear, Hopkins has had a very successful career in film and television full of award nominations, including an Oscar and BAFTA for his role of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs. For all these accomplishments, he was knighted in 1993. However, Anthony Hopkins recently revealed that if it was not for his role in the Thor movie, he would have retired from acting at that time.

Hopkins revealed in the recently published compendium, The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that his role as Odin in Kenneth Branagh’s Marvel film Thor was what gave him the energy he needed to keep acting. Hopkins talked about how he had been fully prepared to quit acting before he got his role as Thor’s father Odin in the 2011 film. The reason for his turnaround? Kenneth Branagh. Anthony Hopkins credited Branagh with the source of enthusiasm that Hopkins needed to keep working and love acting again:

“Branagh gave me back the chops to work."

He went on to explain:

“I was gonna give it up, really. But you see, [Branagh] won't let you do that. Working with Ken was quite an injection of new energy into my life."

RELATED: Marvel And Disney Delay Multiple Films Including ‘Thor 4’ And ‘Black Panther 2’

Throughout his career, Sir Anthony Hopkins had earned a myriad of accolades for both stage and screen. He started out in the National Theater in England as the understudy in theater to the great Laurence Olivier, the decorated Shakespearean and film actor. After his first official made for television film, Hopkins’ career really took off with his role of Richard the Lionheart in the 1968 film The Lion of Winter. Hopkins’ career in the 70s and 80s was great for him as well, but it was the 90s that really helped bring Hopkins’ acting life to a whole new level. In 1991, The Silence of the Lambs came out, and was universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lector, the creepy cannibal, and earned himself an Oscar and BAFTA in the very decorated film. Hopkins’ acting career after that was definitely something to be proud of.

By 2010, Hopkins was ready to call it quits. However, Kenneth Branagh had other plans. Kenneth Branagh, also a famous Shakespearean performer and director both on stage and screen productions, helped bring a certain energy to the set of Thor that Hopkins really admired. He said that Branagh’s attitude on the set, with the crew and the actors really helped with the success of the entire team of the Thor movie.

"He seems to have that same infectious quality on everybody in the crew. His enthusiasm, his attitude, is so positive, that he brings out the best in everybody."

After Thor came out in 2011, Anthony Hopkins had definitely not called it quits with acting. He had since appeared in 19 films, including two where he continued his part of Odin in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017). He also appeared in HBO’s Westworld series where he played Dr. Robert Ford for 17 episodes and Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest where he narrated the episode “Everlight.”

Kenneth Branagh unfortunately did not return to direct the other two Thor movies. He did have a brief cameo as an Asgardian distress caller at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. He is currently working on an adaption of the Agatha Christie murder mystery novel Death on the Nile which is set to come out in February of 2022.

Anthony Hopkins’ next film to be released is The Son (2022), the sequel to The Father (2020). He won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in that film. Hopkins is also currently filming Armageddon Time.

READ NEXT: Andrew Garfield Brings Stage To Screen With ‘tick, tick…Boom!’

Written By Elizabeth Dresdow

Source(s): CBR, IMDb

Syndicated From Culture Slate

Join The Team