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Anthony Hopkins explores horrors of dementia in ‘The Father’

  
Via:  Buzz of the Orient  •  4 years ago  •  15 comments

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Anthony Hopkins explores horrors of dementia in ‘The Father’
“It’s like magic in a way…. We were all crying on set.”

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Anthony Hopkins explores horrors of dementia in ‘The Father’

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Convincing movie legend Anthony Hopkins to star in your first-ever film is a tall order for any director.

But Florian Zeller — the acclaimed French writer, adapting his own play “The Father” for the big screen —  was so determined, he even changed his main character’s name and birthdate to those of his dream leading man. 

“I really wrote the script for him. He was the desire and the dream,” Zeller told AFP. “Until someone comes and says it’s not possible, it means that potentially it is possible.”

Fortunately, the gambit paid off, with the “Silence of the Lambs” actor signing up — alongside fellow Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman as his daughter — for Zeller’s devastating dementia drama. 

The film, containing elements of thriller and horror genres, takes viewers on a deliberately disorientating journey inside Anthony’s fast-slipping mind.

Family members become unrecognizable, and over-familiar strangers inexplicably appear in his own plush London apartment, which itself appears to shift before his — and our — eyes.

“He is very known for parts where he is always in control of everything,” said Zeller, of Hopkins.

“I thought that it would be powerful to see that very same person now starting to lose control… in a way, to let go of what we know about him, this Hannibal Lecter face.”

‘We were all crying’

The film screened at last week’s Toronto film festival after rave reviews at its Sundance premiere in January. It is due to be released by Sony Pictures Classics in December. 

Seven months out from the Oscars, Hopkins is already seen by many as a safe bet for a sixth Academy nomination.

As the true nature of his condition unravels, Hopkins draws upon a startling range of emotions, from paranoia and anger to desperation and emotional breakdown.

“He’s the master of subtext. I’ve always admired the way he uses words, to create danger, anxiety,” said Zeller.

The 82-year-old Welsh actor has spoken of concentrating on his own mortality in order to perform the role. 

“Anthony is a very instinctive actor — in a way he uses his instincts more than anything else, so many times the first takes were better,” said Zeller.

“It’s like magic in a way…. We were all crying on set.”

‘The Pearl Fishers’

It has been a long journey from Zeller’s original French-language play “Le Pere,” itself based on experiences with his grandmother who helped raise him but who began to experience dementia when he was 15.

A seamless English stage translation brought Zeller attention across the Channel and eventually in the US. 

The film will arrive more than eight years on from the play’s Paris debut, to a transformed world.

“With what we are going through just now with the virus, when you see our grandfathers, our fathers, our grandmothers, so fragile — I think we are still very concerned and connected to the fragility of life,” said Zeller.

But despite its weighty subject matter, the film is far from bleak.

Hopkins imbues his mischievous character with spades of humor and charm, flirting outrageously with young Laura (Imogen Poots,) the latest in his long line of beleaguered carers. 

Music also plays a central role.

Zeller convinced legendary composer Ludovico Einaudi to score the film. The Italian also scored this year’s potential Oscar rival “Nomadland.”

And after Hopkins expressed his love for Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” Zeller incorporated an aria into a script that also sees Anthony hum and dance along to classical music during a moment of clarity and levity in his kitchen.

“I fulfilled that dream because he fulfilled mine,” said Zeller. 


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Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1  seeder  Buzz of the Orient    4 years ago
Maybe it's a good thing I most likely won't get to see this movie for a few years, because of my age I'm a little nervous about the possibility of recognizing symptoms.
 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
1.1  Vic Eldred  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @1    4 years ago

Can't wait to see it.

because of my age I'm a little nervous about the possibility of recognizing symptoms.

I don't think you have any worries in that regard, nor does Anthony Hopkins.

 
 
 
XXJefferson51
Senior Guide
1.1.1  XXJefferson51  replied to  Vic Eldred @1.1    4 years ago

[removed]

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.2  Trout Giggles  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @1    4 years ago

Anthony Hopkins is one of my favorite actors. Since I don't go to movies I will wait for it to come out on HBO or Netflix. But thanks for seeding this. I look forward to seeing this movie

 
 
 
devangelical
Professor Principal
1.2.1  devangelical  replied to  Trout Giggles @1.2    4 years ago

I feel the same way about AH. I don't go to the movies anymore either. the last movie theater I attended served dinner. I liked that, until the bill came. then I decided it was cheaper to stay home and see films online or use pay per view. I could still eat while watching and pause the film to walk 20 feet to the bathroom. I have caught myself wanting to yell at somebody when a cell phone rang, but at home it's always mine.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.2.2  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  devangelical @1.2.1    4 years ago

Since I've been living in China, I've only been twice in a movie theatre.  About 12 years ago I returned to North America for about 10 days in order to attend by son's wedding in Baltimore, and to spend time with my daughter in Toronto and my brother and sister-in-law in our original home town, where they took me to see A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the little neighbourhood theatre that we used to go to as kids for the Saturday afternoon matinees. In China I was a guest of a student about 9 years ago to see the final Hobbit movie as a 4D movie, and that was an interesting experience, but I've had no desire to go to a movie theatre again.  I watch an average of one movie a day here on our 4 1/2 foot screen.  There are 8 channels here that show foreign movies 24/7 most of which are in English, although for copyright compliance they are at least 3 years old. (Yes, China DOES comply with copyright laws).  In the last few days I watched Gambit, starring Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Cameron Diaz and Stanley Tucci, Becket, starring Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, and Aeon Flux, starring Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand - mostly older movies, but ones I had never seen and I did enjoy watching them.    

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2  MonsterMash    4 years ago

It's been over 15 years since I've seen a movie in a theater, this one I'll go to as soon as it comes to a theater near me.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.1  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  MonsterMash @2    4 years ago

I hope I don't develop dementia before I'll be able to watch it myself.

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2.1.1  MonsterMash  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.1    4 years ago

That's the reason I'm going to see it ASAP

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.1.2  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  MonsterMash @2.1.1    4 years ago

LOL  

Oh wait a sec. I hope that in your case it ISN'T a good reason. 

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2.1.3  MonsterMash  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.1.2    4 years ago

Not yet, I want to see it ASAP so I can recognize the signs of dementia if and when I start to get it.. If I do get it I can't say for sure I'll remember what the signs were my mother experienced when she first started to forget.

I think my sister (age 81) is starting to Alzheimer's. When I talk with her she repeats the same things over and over. Her youngest Great Granddaughter was born over a year ago, yet every time I speak with her she'll ask 2-3 times in a half an hour if she told me Gail had a baby daughter.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.1.4  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  MonsterMash @2.1.3    4 years ago

I guess I recognized my mother's falling into dementia when she started "hiding" things, and when with my 18 year old daughter I visited her, she asked if that was my girl friend. 

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
2.1.5  MonsterMash  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.1.4    4 years ago

I first recognized it in my mother while visiting her, She asked if I wanted a brownie, I said I did, She went into the bathroom returning a few minutes later saying "I guess your dad ate the last of the brownies, their all gone. I went to the kitchen returning with two brownies, Mom asked where I found them, I told her in cabinet above the sink and she said " I wonder why he hid them there, he must of wanted them all to himself"

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.1.6  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  MonsterMash @2.1.5    4 years ago

If some of the things they say were not pathetic, they would actually be funny. 

 
 
 
MonsterMash
Sophomore Quiet
3  MonsterMash    4 years ago

When it first starts it is funny, after a few times it gets pathetic and scary. It's hard to accept a parent or a loved one is entering the final stage of life.

I guess my family was lucky, my mom never failed to recognize any of us. Sometimes she would confuse us with our siblings calling us by another's name but she always knew we were her children and she always knew our dad was her husband

 
 

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