For decades he had kept the missions that he and several others carried out private.
But Hopkins admits he wasn’t aware of the story when it broke.
“I was somewhere else… That was three years ago, at which time Hopkins says he couldn’t make the film.
Anthony Hopkins in ‘One Life’.Bleecker Street
But it came back around, with James Hawes (Slow Horses,Black Mirror) attached to direct.
“Neville Chamberlain, our prime minister, declared war against Hitler, and Hitler closed down the borders.
“There was that regret [of losing that train of children].
Anthony Hopkins and Lena Olin in ‘One Life’.Bleecker Street
But what he did was check that that other people had the credit, the people on the ‘kindertransport.
‘…And that’s what I admired about him.”
Do you run away with your ego?
Anthony Hopkins in ‘One Life’.Bleecker Street
He was very generous to the other people who were involved in the kindertransport.
And he said, ‘Well, Germany was praying for victory.
Britain was praying for victory.
America was praying for victory.
Russia was playing for victory.
So…’ And he couldn’t answer.
[The journalist asked,] ‘Do you see any hope for the future?’
He said, ‘No.’
‘No hope for the human race?’
‘No, unless we learn to compromise.
We live in an age of absolutes.I know, and you don’t.
Have we learned anything?
I’m not saying that’s a terrible judgment on the human being.
We are survivalists and we have to move on.
But it’s that ‘business as usual’ that’s the chilling part of us.”
He mentions Jonathan Glazer’sThe Zone of Interest, a film he had just watched.
“We are selfish, survivalist creatures.
We all are,” he continues.
“To survive, we have to have an ego that pushes it.
And that’s the terrifying thing, the absolutist idea and the foundation of any dictatorship.
And without citing anyone, you hear it constantly on the radio, on the television.
‘Let it be understood!
Let me be clear!’
Politicians say that a lot.
Why is everything going down the drain?
Why can’t people get jobs?
But we are all part of the same mechanism.
We’re only human beings.
Once you begin to think you’re exalted above that, then it’s the end.”
I don’t know anything.”
What he does know is that he’s grateful to still be telling stories at 86 years old.
“You look back, you think, well, that was then.
You make the compromise of making amends or apologies, this, that, the other.
But finally, you have to move on with life.
As Winton said, ‘Save one life, save the world.’
I’ve done things that I look back and think, how did I do that?
But I was young.
I had this idea and that idea.
And you learn to think, oh, well, that’s the way it was then.
And hopefully I’ve learned to don’t do that anymore.It’s not worth it.
Don’t do it.
Be thoughtful to other people and respect other people.
That doesn’t mean to say I’m a doormat, but respect other people.
Listen, listen, listen.
It’s easy to fight.
It’s easy to come out fighting.
I was punchy when I was a young kid.
I’m too old to do that anymore.”
But not too old for social media.
“My wife and I said, we must have some fun.
We must have a laugh,” he says, offering up one of his own.
“Let’s lighten it up a bit because we’re all going to be dead one day.
“One Lifeis in theaters Friday.
Watch an exclusive clip above.
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