Brian Cox is totally cool with Anthony Hopkins’ biggest Hannibal Lecter fame

In a new interview linked to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim which ends up being mostly about Successions (perhaps unsurprisingly), Brian Cox talked about what it was like to be the guy who played Hannibal Lecter on screen first … just a few years before Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning performance in The silence of the lambs he made everyone think he had originated the role.

The veteran actor, who has done his own share of legendary performances since 1986, made peace with what could have been an epic thespian feud. “Well, it’s a different character,” he said the Hollywood Reporter. “I mean, it’s like playing Hamlet. Everyone has to have their own Hamlet. I chose to play as the director Michael Mann and I decided to play. Tony played brilliantly. I mean, I had to go in Paris to see him because I couldn’t bring myself to see him in London.

Asked for clarification on the latter part of his answer, Cox explained: “Because people knew I was the other Hannibal, and I was worried that they would say, ‘You’re comparing Hannibal Lecters’ and all that. But we played it the way we played it. Tony decided to take another route. And of course, Tony got the Oscar and made a lot of money from it like 10 grand.”

But the only rule that is stuck with the two, apparently, is that Cox and Hopkins don’t talk about Hannibal Lecter. “I did an interview with a newspaper, and the headline of the newspaper was that I was the first Hannibal Lecter. Well, it was true, but I thought I was bragging and I wasn’t. And then I woke up one afternoon and the phone it started ringing and all hell broke loose… Tony’s lady phoned my agent and said, “Tony’s a little upset about that.” So I called my agent and said, “Look, I’ve worked together a couple of times. And that’s a rule we never have.”

For those wondering, THR did not bring up Mads Mikkelsen’s take on the character from the TV series. Hannibal– so we’re still wondering what Cox was thinking what you do version of the sophisticated serial killer. With that in mind, you can go THR to read the full interview.

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