Friday, March 29All That Matters

Anthony Hopkins saying that Kathy Bates in Misery gave the best performance he’s ever seen.


Anthony Hopkins saying that Kathy Bates in Misery gave the best performance he’s ever seen.




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43 Comments

  • herewego199209

    The movie came out two years before I was born. I didn’t get to see it until I was like 13, so I knew Kathy Bates from like the water boy and other stuff. When I first saw the movie she was the number 1 thing that sticks out. I’ts such a layered and powerful performance that takes you on a ride. You feel bad for her then you see how much of a sick fuck she really is and then you feel bad for her again. As a Stephen King fan, I’ve been meaning to read the book, but Bates for sure gave one of the best performances of all time.

  • insertbrackets

    It is deeply upsetting, a testament to her talents. I think Patricia Arquette is channeling something similar in Severance.

  • Moses-SandyKoufax

    That’s not what he said. He said she was the best “mad actor” he’d ever seen. She played the best insane person he’d ever seen.

  • KneeHighMischief

    James Caan was outstanding also. He played off her very well especially for a character who spends most of his time in bed or in a chair reacting to the insanity of the situation he’s found himself in.

  • Roomy

    For me, it’s gotta be either Matthew Mcconaughey in True Detective, Bill Hader in Barry, or Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad. All three of these guys were not on my radar for excellent performance, and completely won me over with their work.

    I still think of Matthew’s monologue sometimes, and that includes today. That line popped into my head this morning for no specific reason. “It was all the same dream. A dream that you had inside a locked room. A dream of being a person.” Magnificent writing and acting.

    Now that I think about it, Meryl Streep in Doubt is still my favorite of her roles in an already prolific career. Damnit, picking one actor is impossible for me, lol. There really is excellence all over the place, if one is willing to find it.

  • BigZ911

    The fact that a guy as old and prestigious as Anthony Hopkins gave arguably the best performance of his career last year, and honestly one of the best in movie history, is a testament to that man’s ability

  • isthiswhereiputmy

    It’s a worthwhile regard but even this clip of the interview is much more than that, as is usually with Anthony Hopkins, thanks for sharing it!

  • Mindspace_Explorer

    She’s so fucking unsettling in that movie, in a way that feels very real. Haven’t seen the movie in probably at least 20 years but it used to play often on TV when I was a teenager.

    Maybe I’ll have to watch it again.

  • PhillySpecial2424

    In the book she cuts his foot off but in the movie she “hobbles” him. I always found the act of hobbling so much worse than just cutting off someones foot. That’s easy, but to hobble someone in such a creative and absolutely brutal way was just so good.

  • ripyourlungsdave

    And then, later in his career, he would be in a Transformers movie that implied that *Harriet Tubman worked with Transformers.*

    Which is.. just something I can’t forget. I adore the man and I don’t think it cheapens his other roles, but that is quite the story to have to share on screen.

  • MN_10849

    Didn’t he later state that Bryan Cranston’s performance in Breaking Bad, specifically the episode where Walt is trying to get his family out and Skylar tells him she gave their money to Ted so Walt goes from screaming to laughing, was the best performance he’d ever seen?

  • DigMeTX

    This interview was from the early 90’s. Since then Hopkins wrote a letter to Bryan Cranston saying that his work in Breaking Bad was the best acting he has ever seen. Sorry, Kathy!

  • XivSpew

    I know I’ll get a smartass reply to this question that will make me reconsider, but remind me again how Dick Cavett had an interview show for decades? Dude is wet toast filling a cheap suit.

  • Brugor

    My parents were very loose about what age I should be to watch the different movies and such. So I weren’t very old when I saw Misery. I’ve probably 11-12 years old. I had that time already watched movies like Alien and Predator but I weren’t really scared of those monsters because they were awesome and all that … and then Annie Wilkes. That character was like the nightmare every person can turn into if they succumb to that deep maelstrom of darkness and madness that resides in every person that we try to steer away from with our logical thoughts and conscience. Annie is truly a monster and monster in sheep (human) clothing at that.
    But the worst (and by that the best) part is Annie’s drive and that her monster comes from within – from a place of humanity. We kinda understand her psychopathic thought pattern but as rational people we have denied that side of us to be upstanding and be accepted in modern human society. Annie Wilkes is the human who jumped into the for mentioned maelstrom and decided to drown with it. Turning into a mad entity. A very realistic monster.
    Simply put … Annie Wilkes is so simple but yet brilliant written. And Kathy Bates was the right actress for that character’s madness.

    I was scared for elderly ladies for like 2 months afterwards.

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