Hollywood has its fair share of embarrassing stories that pop up in interviews and talk shows every now and then. Yet, out of all the funny and flustering stories that celebrities from the entertainment industry have shared to date, this one about Jodie Foster being ‘petrified’ of the Hannibal portrayer Anthony Hopkins, from her Silence of the Lambs movie, has to be the most epic.
What’s funnier is the reason behind her being so utterly terrified of him – to the point where Foster literally went out of her way to never, ever come across him on the sets of the blockbuster that they shared together!
Jodie Foster Was Terrified Of Anthony Hopkins
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While Anthony Hopkins is usually highly applauded for his immaculate performances on-screen, this one time he might have taken it too far, considering how his co-star from Silence of the Lambs got scared by him to the point of avoiding running into him on sets.
When Graham Norton asked her the same about whether she actually never spoke to the Hannibal star, Jodie Foster said in all truth,
“No. Never spoke to him. He was scary.”
She continued to share the story from back when the horror/thriller was in production and the reason why she initially became terrified by him.
“The first day, we had a reading, like a little read-through. I got there early, and then we did the read-through of the film, and by the end of it, I never wanted to talk to him again. I was petrified.”
Thus started the game of hide and seek between the duo, with Foster going out of her way to never meet her co-star on sets.
“So then when we did the whole movie, he was always behind the glass partitions or he was in his cell. Because the scenes were so long, they would lock him in at the beginning of the day and he’d go there. And the next day he’d be on the other side and I’d be on this side. We got to the end of the movie and hadn’t really had a conversation. [Graham Norton: But you never passed by backstage?] No, I avoided him. I really avoided him.”
Though we must admit it’s quite commendable how she managed to avoid him throughout the time that the film was shot, considering how the pair played lovers on the run in the movie!
Jodie Foster Ended Up Becoming Friends With Anthony Hopkins
Although Jodie Foster did everything in her control to not bump into her co-star Anthony Hopkins even accidentally, the day finally came when she had to confront her fears – the last day of the shoot. Little did she know that that would be the day on which the off-screen relationship between them would change.
“I was eating a sandwich, it was the last day and he [Anthony Hopkins] came up to me, and he was sidled up to me,” Foster said. “I don’t know, I sort of had a tear in my eye and I was like, ‘I was really scared of you’. He said ‘I was scared of you!’. Why would anyone be scared of me? I don’t know. After that, we gave each other a big hug and became staunch friends.”
Thus, a friendship was formed from an initial relationship of fear, and now both Foster and Hopkins are all praise for each other.
Source: YouTube
