Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins has played some scarily evil characters in his time, including the infamous cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, but Hopkins displayed another side of himself recently when he readily spoke about his faith in God.
Hopkins was being interviewed on CNN’s Piers Morgan Saturday, when Morgan questioned him “Do you believe in God?” To which Hopkins replied, “Yes, I do. I do.”
The 73-year-old actor told Morgan that he came to believe in God 35 years previously when he was suffering through an intense bout of alcohol addiction and prayed to God even though he considered himself an atheist at the time.
“I was hell bent on destruction. And I just asked for a little bit of help, and suddenly, pow. It was just like, bingo,” remembered Hopkins.
Hopkins likened his addiction to possession.
“It was like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I couldn't stop. And millions of people around like that. I could not stop.”
Hopkins said he called out for help in desperation and a woman told him to just trust in God.
“And I said, well, why not? And was such a quantum leap from this to that.”
Hopkins plays a priest that does exorcism in his latest movie, ‘The Rite,’ and pointed out that his character Father Lucas is both weak and powerless.
“The priest says that’s humility,” said Hopkins, who also said that he originally didn’t want to play the role because he didn’t want to play another ‘weirdo,’ but eventually decided to take it on because he enjoyed the idea behind the film.
“I liked the idea that it was based on a true story and that he (director) didn’t want to do anything strange with it, you know, spinning heads and things and all that,” the veteran actor explained.