Emmanuel Itier: This is the second time you get into the skin of a man floating between darkness and light–a true villain. How did you approach him?

Anthony Hopkins: This is only the second time I’ve played a villain since Hannibal, and I suppose this role is a little bit similar. He is too smart for his own good. But really, I don’t do much to get in his skin. I just read the script. I responded positively to it, and I immediately called my agent and thought it was a fresh approach to a classic story. I get asked the question a lot why I play villains, but truly I’ve only played a villain twice now. The reason one wants to play a villain is because we all have the fantasy we can do everything perfectly, and this character is like this. He thinks he is smarter than everybody else. He always has an answer for everything, and he thinks he is on top of everything, but truly it’s a fantasy to think you can always be on top of everything. That’s what makes it fun for me to play someone like this.

EI: How was to work with a young actor like Ryan Gosling?

AH: He was great. He is much younger than me. He surprised me, and this was great to be surprised by such a fresh young man and looking at him, and responding to him. This was a delightful experience for me to work with Ryan.

EI: The movie is about justice. What is justice, and did you think about this concept during the shooting of the film?

AH: No! I don’t have the time to think about it. I have not since the final cut of the movie…

EI: You have such a body of work and you do inspire so many young actors, such as Ryan Gosling, but what about you? What is your inspiration? What are you looking for in life?

AH: A part like this one is inspirational for me. I get so many scripts, but this one was unique. Also, I wanted to work with this director, Gregory Hoblit, because I have always admired his work, such as “Primal Fear” with Ed Norton and Richard Gere.

EI: The movie is about, in one way, finding one’s weak spot–so what is your weak spot?

AH: For me, this would be cookies–all the bad stuff. My wife has to hide them. I always say, “Couldn’t I have just one?” and she says, “No, because you’ll eat the whole pack.” Indeed, with me it’s like being an alcoholic–me and cookies.

EI: You live in Los Angeles. How do you enjoy it, compared to London?

AH: Well, I love it. I love the weather. I love it for all the reasons that people don’t like it. It’s a great place to be. You can go anywhere with your car and everything is easy of access.

EI: What makes a good thriller?

AH: Well, this is like a chess game between Ryan and myself. I really enjoyed the script. I thought it had some great entertaining and smart elements. Greg [the director] says it’s great “popcorn”, and in a way I think it’s good. It’s good to keep people entertained. It’s also juicy for an audience to watch this game between my character and Ryan’s character and trying to find out if I’m going to make it or not, or if Ryan’s character will take over mine.

EI: Do you rehearse a lot? How did you work out these scenes with Ryan?

AH: It came out all naturally. We did not really rehearse. Rehearsing in a hotel for me is deadly and boring. We just went on the set just did it. We didn’t talk that much about anything. It’s funny because Ryan wanted to get the script right, and I tend to get lazy. I don’t tend to be on-hand. I’m not a method actor, even though I was trained for it. I don’t try to figure out what the character had for breakfast before playing a scene. I try to be relaxed and improvise, and change the rhythm if it’s necessary. I believe in shooting a scene in three takes, and this should be enough. But Ryan, thank goodness for the film, cared a lot. Even at the end, he was fighting to change the ending. I was kind of pleased with it and I didn’t think about it. But I was called to do a re-shoot. Even though at first I was not happy about it, I’m glad that Ryan thought about it, and this new ending is great. The producers wanted a big showdown, but Ryan didn’t want this. I’m glad he did my work for me. We tend to underestimate the audience and that they don’t want a smart ending and prefer a “bang-bang” type of ending, but it’s not true. If it’s smart and well put together, they will enjoy it.

EI: The movie is about a character, yours, who is too smart for his own good. Have you ever met someone like this?

AH: Well actually, a few years ago, I knew a director who was like my character. He never talked and was so cold and calculative. He was so smart but not all accessible. We hated him. He would never answer back to a question we would ask. And now he is wondering why he is not working anymore…maybe because he wasn’t a very nice guy. He out-smarted himself. If you’re truly clever, you tend to destroy people’s humanity. This is what he was doing, this director, but he is not working anymore. You need to have some humanity.

EI: This film is also about being competitive. What is competitive about yourself? What do you fight for in your life?

AH: I’m not competitive about anything. I just like to paint. There isn’t much of anything that I want out of life…I’m happy with my life.

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