Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. 

Today we celebrate one of our great Welshmen: Anthony Hopkins! Our B-Sides include When Eight Bells Toll, Juggernaut, Spotswood, and Instinct.

Our guest is the great Brian Raftery, whose new book Hannibal Lecter: A Life “traces the many lives and crimes of Hannibal Lecter: his disturbing debut in Thomas Harris’s 1981 novel Red Dragon; his rise to infamy in beloved films like Michael Mann’s Manhunter and Jonathan Demme’s Academy Award–winning The Silence of the Lambs; and his unexpected comeback in the cult-hit TV series Hannibal.” 

We discuss Hopkins’ iconic voice, his tumultuous early years and struggle to become a leading man. There’s his honest and interesting autobiography, his incredible range, his Wales-connection to the great Richard Burton, and his incredibly practical outlook to the acting profession.

Brian, Conor, and I go long on the actors that have played Hannibal, the movie Freejack, Hopkins’ directorial efforts August and Slipstream, and that time Hopkins played a working man’s James Bond named Phil (When Eight Bells Toll). There’s love paid to Bill Forsyth, Jodie Foster, Kate Burton, and The Edge.