Good Evening, Clarice

Last I did three things I never imagined I'd do:

1. I stood in line for over two hours to see a movie. A movie that came out seventeen years ago.
2. I watched Silence of the Lambs.
   
3. I watched Silence of the Lambs about twenty feet away from Sir Anthony Hopkins. Or Tony as he introduced himself to all of us.

Let me explain. UCLA has these great free showings of movies - some are new, some are independents, some are sneak previews, and some are presented by writers or directors or in this case, Anthony Hopkins, the man who won the Academy Award for playing a cannibal in the film. The catch is that while the tickets are free, you have to stand in line to get them because they're well, free. So I went with two friends from my program and we stood. And stood. And stood. But that was fun too.

When we finally got into the theater and Mr. Hopkins came in everyone stood and clapped, that was pretty cool. And when his name appeared on screen everyone clapped and when he first appeared on screen everyone clapped. It was very surreal.

And while I never had any desire to see the movie, I found it fascinating. I also think because I'd built it up as this scary, horror-type movie, I was expecting way worse than I got. Not that it wasn't scary, it definitely was. But it was also entertaining.

After the movie Mr. Hopkins did a question and answer period for over an hour, and while none of us were sure what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised. He started off by delivering the famous lines from the movie about eating a man's liver with some "fava beans and nice chianti". It was great. And he proceeded to make the fast slurping sound a few times - that was really creepy! He talked about being on the set, and his inspiration for playing Lecter and then acting and directing and writing in general. He also talked about being creative and reading everything and anything and he made a comment about how many actors today are a disgrace in how entitled they seem. All in all, a fascinating evening! And I still can't believe that I watched Silence of the Lambs in same room with Hannibal Lecter!

UPDATE: Sometimes I forget my blog is on the World Wide Web and not just my friends' computers. I recently got a comment on this particular blog, by someone anonymous that said:

Could you expand a little more on what he said about his inspiration(s) were for the character ? He has mentioned HAL the computer in 2001, in the past and a dentist in his home town in Wales. Would be interesting to know if he drew on anything else.

Mr. Hopkins did spend a lot of time talking about acting, which is interesting to me but not fascinating. And since the majority of the audience was acting students, us screenwriters did not get a chance to ask any questions. What he did say was that he simply created the character from what was on the page and what was in his imagination. He said he tried reading a book on serial killers and it got into his head and messed up his idea and so he threw it away. I remember that specifically because I wondered if he literally threw the book in the trash. He did not mention the computer or the dentist but then again, it's been a few years and I know sometimes memories change a little.