Anthony Hopkins: I look over my life now and I am astonished that I am still here

A recipient of multiple accolades in his five-decade career, Anthony Hopkins' recent Oscar nomination for The Father makes him the oldest Best Actor nominee in Academy Awards history. The veteran actor says looking back at his career, which features films such as The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which won him an Oscar, The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997) and The Two Popes (2019), he is quite pleasantly surprised to see how far he has come.

"It is something to ponder. At the age of 83 now and I look over my life now and I am astonished that I am still here. I am most fortunate. I have been employed as an actor for many years which is the richest life I could ever dream of. It is like I never wrote my life at all. Somebody else wrote the story of my life because I can't explain any of my existence here. I do sense that there s something more powerful at play beyond comprehension," shares Hopkins.

The actors maintains that so far he has had a full life and has no complaints whatsoever. "Ageing is not in our hands. But for me it was worth it all the way. I am happy to be just being alive and playing with my cat," he adds.

After a bit of a lull, Hopkins career saw resurgence after 2010 thanks to his portrayals in films such as The Rite (2011), Thor franchise, Noah (2014), The Dresser (2015), series Westworld, 2018 television film King Lear and The Two Popes (2019).

"It is a great privilege being an actor. It is a wonderful life. I look back at my life and realize that I had the great pleasure of meeting some great actors, working with great actors. I look at it with great humility, I am humbled by it. I am so lucky to be still working and about getting such great parts to play. My wife says you work so hard but to me it does not seem so hard because I enjoy it," he says.

Sharing his thought about working on his Oscar nominated film, The Father, which also stars Oscar winning actor Olivia Coleman, Hopkins says right from the start he wanted to be a part of the project and despite some hiccup, he eventually did it.

"The only problem I had was a high quality problem, I had another film to do, The Two Popes. I asked the makers of The Father if they would wait and they said yes. And then when Olivia came on board and I remember the moment she won the Oscar, I said that is money in the bank and that was it. For me to play this part was no sweat, no big deal. It was the best time of my life," he concludes.