Taron Egerton has revealed that he is pen-pals with Sir Anthony Hopkins and received some chilling advice from the 88-year-old actor when it came to playing a villain.
The 36-year-old actor appeared on Dax Shepherd's podcast The Armchair Expert this week and spoke about his preparation for his villainous role in Apex. The film sees Taron play a psychopath who hunts women and is obsessed with being the "Apex" of the Australian Wilderness.
But who could he turn to for advice while playing such a psychotic role? The actor revealed he turned to none other than Sir Anthony, who played the legendary villain Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs in 1991.
Pen-pal relationship with Hopkins
"I'm honoured to say that I have a sort of slight pen pal relationship with Anthony Hopkins, and I asked him before doing the movie for advice about playing a really f***ed up individual."
He then said that Sir Anthony revealed that: "Yeah, and he said he said something like he said I don't know where Lecter came from. Probably something in my childhood.
"But he said the only advice I would give you, and I don't need to tell you this, but the only advice I would give you is don't play the evil. You know, play play him as the hero of his story.
"And I took that. I really took that advice forward with me.," he said.
Playing the villain in Apex
Taron is better known for playing the likes of Elton John in Rocketman, Robin Hood, and a charismatic spy in the Kingsman, so this evil role was more of a stretch for the actor.
Nonetheless he added that he found playing the baddie pretty thrilling: "Parts like that where the rules are a little bit malleable, and you get to do something where you're being a license to be as strange as possible, so freeing and expressive. I had a great time."
Hopkins' inspiration for Lecter
Sir Anthony has previously reflected on playing the legendary cannibal doctor - a job that won him the Best Actor Oscar in 1991 - telling Variety in a 2021 Actors on Actors interview with Jodie Foster, that he was inspired by a former teacher and a robot for the role.
He said that HAL 9000, the AI antagonist from 2001: A Space Odyssey, was a major inspiration: "He's like a machine," Hopkins says of Lecter. "He just comes in like a silent shark."
He was also inspired by Christopher Fettes, a teacher who taught Hopkins at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art: "He had a cutting voice, and he would slice you to pieces," Hopkins said. "His analysis of what you were doing was so precise; it's a method that stayed with me for all my life."
