[imagesource: Sony Pictures Classics]

In 1992, Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

It is perhaps the role with which he will always be associated, and also why you don’t see him on many of those ‘name your three ideal dinner guests’ lists.

If you win two Best Actor Oscars, you really are in esteemed company, a feat achieved only by Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Fredric March, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, and Spencer Tracy.

Then there’s Daniel Day-Lewis, who has won three, which is just silly.

Anyway, the point here is that Hopkins’ performance in The Father, from first-time director Florian Zeller, is generating some Oscar buzz, with Variety saying “he has the goods to join that elite list of two-time best actor winners”:

In “The Father,” Hopkins’ work as Anthony, a man who refuses the assistance of his daughter as he ages and begins to doubt his mind and reality, is in the upper echelon of the British actor’s best work. He owns almost every scene of the movie’s 97-minute runtime.

High praise, indeed.

Here’s the trailer, with Hopkins starring alongside Olivia Colman and Imogen Poots:

Variety adds that there’s a chance Colman is in with a Best Actress shot, too, having won in 2018 for her role in The Favourite.

IndieWire concurs, saying “Hopkins is back in the Oscar fray”, with Entertainment Weekly states there is “healthy Oscar buzz for both Colman and Hopkins”.

Never a bad thing, is it?

The film is set to be released on December 18.

[source:variety]