The 2021 Oscars saw Anthony Hopkins win his second Best Actor Oscar for The Father, but the actor did not show up to accept his award. The Academy Award, which was accepted of his behalf by last year's winner Joaquin Phoenix, was the last to be given on the night, leaving the show on what many saw as a downbeat note.
Why Anthony Hopkins wasn't at the Oscars
Anthony Hopkins' snub of the Oscars was not the only awards ceremony the actor missed this year. The 83-year-old Welsh actor also gave the Golden Globes a miss, and did not make an appearance to accept the BAFTA that he won for his performance as a man suffering from dementia.
In a recent interview with the Sunday Times, Hopkins discussed how he does not spend time with other actors and how he is happier spending time at home. The two-time Oscar-winner said: "I get up every morning, I eat my oatmeal, I go to the gym, my wife goes for a swim. I paint, I read, I play complicated pieces on the piano because I want to keep my brain active. I play with my cat. I'm not interested in what's going on outside."
Hopkins, who won his first Oscar for the role of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs, added, "I like to have a laugh but I'm not overly gregarious. In the old days I'd be at parties and in bars, getting smashed and blacking out. Now I'm quite happy being on my own."
When asked in a post-BAFTAs press conference why he skipped the awards, the actor said he was too busy painting. He said, "I was so astounded. I was sitting here painting, in fact. This room in my hotel. I'm covered in paint...I heard a cheer from next door. I thought, 'What the hell is happening?' I thought they were watching a football match. Then I got a message from Florian [Zeller, The Father director]."
On the day of the Oscars, Hopkins appeared in a Twitter video in a graveyard in Wales, where he was paying his respects to his father. In the video, the actor recites the Dylan Thomas poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."
This links back to Hopkins' first Oscar win in 1992 for The Silence of the Lambs, which took place on the anniversary of the actor's father's death. In his acceptance speech, the actor said: "My father died 11 years ago tonight, though maybe he had something to do with this."
At 83, Hopkins is the oldest actor to win at the Oscars, beating the late Christopher Plummer by a year. His fellow nominees were Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal, Gary Oldman for Mank, Steven Yeun for Minari and, in the role that was the favorite to win, the late Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
