After 'Pointless Acting' in Thor, Anthony Hopkins Joins Ian McKellen in Distaste For Green Screens
Apparently, the legendary actor does not have a high opinion of his MCU role, unlike the fans.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and superhero movies in general have often been called "the death of traditional cinema," "soulless products," "dumb movies," and other less than favorable names.
Even such iconic Hollywood figures as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have expressed their distaste with the genre, along with countless critics and viewers.
While it is debatable whether the situation is actually so bad as to be called "the death of cinema," it is undeniable that MCU films, while fun and entertaining, feel like a calculated product most of the time.
And it is especially hard to argue when even the actors who participated in the cinematic universe share their not-so-positive impressions of it.
Sir Anthony Hopkins is a truly legendary actor who began his career in the 1960s and has since portrayed an impressive number of roles on the big screen, television, and in the theater, earning many prestigious awards along the way.
And while many remember him for his appearances in such masterpieces as The Silence of the Lambs (1991) or The Father (2020), even more are familiar with the actor from his roles in several mainstream films, such as Transformers: The Last Knight and the Thor movies.
Hopkins portrayed Odin in the MCU and appeared in the first three Thor movies, and unsurprisingly, he didn't see them as cinematic masterpieces.
In an interview with The New Yorker, the actor revealed that after reading the script for the first movie, he wrote N.A.R., or No Acting Required, on it, since all he had to do was sit on a throne in armor and yell a little.
He explained, "If you're sitting in front of a green screen, it's pointless acting it." Anthony Hopkins is not the only "old school" actor to express his displeasure with today's constant use of green screens.
Ian McKellen also recalled his struggles while filming The Hobbit, saying he was "miserable" as it was in stark contrast to filming The Lord of the Rings trilogy years earlier.
Nonetheless, fans say that Hopkins still gave memorable performances in all three Thor movies, as he is a dedicated professional, especially when he played Loki impersonating Odin in Thor: Ragnarok.
However, they admit that it is indeed sad that the age of mostly practical sets is almost over, and that green screens are unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Sources: The New Yorker, TimeOut, Reddit