‘I knew I needed help. I knew it was over’: Anthony Hopkins on alcoholism, anger, Academy Awards – and 50 years of sobriety

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As the actor approaches his 90th year and publishes an autobiography, he reflects on his early years on stage, being inspired by Laurence Olivier, becoming a Hollywood star and conquering his demons ‘What’s the weather like over there?” asks Anthony Hopkins as soon as our video call begins. He may have lived in California for decades but some Welshness remains, in his distinctive, mellifluous voice – perhaps a little hoarser than it once was – and his preoccupation with the climate. It’s a dark evening in London but a bright, sunny morning in Los Angeles, and Hopkins is equally bright in demeanour and attire, sporting a turquoise and green shirt. “I came here 50 years ago. Somebody said: ‘Are you selling out?’ I said: ‘No, I just like the climate and to get a suntan.’ But I like Los Angeles. I’ve had a great life here.” It hasn’t been all that great recently, actually. In January this year, Hopkins’ house in Pacific Palisades was destroyed by the wildfires. “It was a bit of a calami...
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Hellboy: The Crooked Man review – sputtering mess even a metric ton of makeup can’t conceal

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A boring nemesis in a top hat bops around cackling while a wan Hellboy is enlisted to save a local man’s sweetheart in this inexplicable successor

Fans of comic books, 00s horror and Guillermo del Toro will recall the latter’s crack at launching a mass-market franchise with Hellboy in 2004, a peppy blend of pulp genre thrills, wisecracks and old-school effects with a very del Torovian occult-vibe. The casting in the title role of Ron Perlman as the half-demon/half-human shorn-horned, red-skinned, wisecracking, cigar-smoking good guy, along with Selma Blair as his pale but decidedly interesting sidekick/love interest Liz, is what made the first film, and to a lesser degree its successor Hellboy II: The Golden Army, sing. But the unholy mess of a reboot from 2019, this time with a not-unlikeable David Harbour in the massive Right Hand of Doom glove, barely made coin, which makes this even lower-budgeted successor somewhat inexplicable. Just as Hellboy can smell evil in the forest air where others catch only the scent of pine, there’s a whiff of creative accounting about this effort.

This time, the man under the metric ton of makeup is Jack Kesy, a pretty wan replacement for his predecessors who doesn’t even look convincing while smoking. Set in the 1950s, Hellboy is working for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense alongside agent Bobbie Jo Song (Adeline Rudolph, the best thing in the film), an eager beaver in contrast to Hellboy the cynic. An escaped CGI spider (don’t ask) causes the two to rock up somewhere in the forests of Appalachia where the search for a phone gets them mixed up with hillbilly witches and gateways to hell. Local guy Tom Ferrell (Jefferson White), newly returned from war to find his parents are seemingly dead, enlists Hellboy and Bobbie Jo to help him save his old sweetheart Cora (Hannah Margetson), who has been bewitched by local enchantress Effie (Leah McNamara, who is at least having fun with the ham serving). And bopping around the place cackling is nemesis the Crooked Man (Martin Bassindale), who is a pretty boring foe apart from the dapper top hat.

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