I’ve always been struck by the level of gravitas and charge Anthony Hopkins brings to his roles. He has an amazing ability to embody the acute vulnerability of the human condition in all its limitation and then, through some kind of iron willpower, to take full possession of the forces of Nature and show us what is possible. In the clip above, one sees this in the man himself – I too, wish to someday be an ‘old fool’ like Hopkins.
“I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
– Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (The Shawshank Redemption, 1994)
