Why Didn’t Anthony Hopkins Accept His Oscar? He Was Asleep
After three cool, swanky hours, the 93rd Academy Awards ended on a truly bizarre note. Instead of giving out the two top acting prizes and then Best Picture — as has been the tradition for decades — the show flipped the order, giving out Best Picture (to Nomadland) and then handing out Best Actress (to Frances McDormand) and Best Actor. Experts have speculated that the change was made on the assumption that the late Chadwick Boseman was going to win a posthumous Oscar, leaving the show on a deeply emotional moment.
Whatever the reason for the switch-up, that’s not how things worked out. Instead, Anthony Hopkins pulled off a major upset, and took home the Best Actor award for his work in The Father — and Hopkins wasn’t even present to accept his award. After a few brief, anticlimactic words from presenter Joaquin Phoenix, the Oscars were over on a strange, sour note.
As it turns out, Hopkins was doing what most of us should have been doing at 11PM on a Sunday night: He was sleeping. His agent, Jeremy Barber, explained to People Magazine that Hopkins had recently returned home to Wales, and “was asleep at 4 in the morning when I woke him up to tell him the news.”
Barber explained his absence thusly:
After a year in quarantine, and being double-vaccinated, he was finally able to return to Wales, and age 83, it was a great relief after such a difficult year. But he loved the role in The Father – it's his proudest performance – and to be the oldest living actor to win in the category means so much to him.
When he woke up, Hopkins shared an acceptance speech on his Instagram account. “At 82 years of age, I did not expect to get this award. I’m very grateful to the Academy, and thank you,” Hopkins said.
This as Hopkins’ sixth Oscar nomination and his second win; his last victory came for playing Hannibal Lecter in 1992’s The Silence of the Lambs. (His other nominations were for The Remains of the Day, Nixon, Amistad, and The Two Popes.) Hopkins also paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman, noting “he was taken from us far too early.” That’s probably what the producers were hoping would happen on the off-chance that someone other than Boseman won the Best Actor prize — except the someone who won wasn’t even in attendance. Oh well, better late than never.
You can find the full list of this year’s Oscar winners here,
Gallery — 25 Best Picture Winners Every Movie Lover Should See: