Why Hopkins?
I just couldn't buy Anthony Hopkins was Don Diego/Zorro, anyone else?
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MovieChat Forums > The Mask of Zorro (1998) Discussion > Why Hopkins?
No, it's just you. He was AMAZING in this movie. Sorry I haven't seen the old Zorros to compare, but just taking it in its own right, marvelous.
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I seriously can't believe there is a Why Hopkins thread on this board , is this person freakin kidding me , Hopkins was fantastic
shareYeah. He sucked. A British accented Zorro? lol
shareIn the trivia section it has Raul Julia and Sean Connery listed as the first choices when it was in development.
Obviously with R.J. dying and his last film being that bastard Street Fighter and Connery having a thick scottish accent I absolutely love the choice of Hopkins who is stellar in almost every role. With that wild silver mane and a tan he had me believing him to be an english educated, spanish aristocrat. Instead of bitching about his ancestry I was actively hoping he was only treating Alejandro so poorly as a teaching tool.
While matching ethnicity is nice it is unnecessary to me if the lead can carry a film the way he does. As an example...I watch Spartacus where Oenomaus, a historical gaul of ancient predominantly pale skinned france, is a very dark skinned man of obvious african descent...but it means nothing to the story as the actor has owned the role from day 1...it is obvious why they cast him against the historical records.
I loved Hopkins in this as well though I like the idea of Julia if he had not died. Connery always has a Scottish accent in every film, even when he played an Egyptian, lol.
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
I agree with the replies thus far re: Hopkins being nearly without flaw with respect to his pedigree as an actor. But, the blue eyes? Wish they could have thrown down some $$ for brown contacts or something. Brown contact lenses along with a diction/accent/dialect coach to assist him with a little stronger Spanish speaking dialect sound and - voila - dead on.
Whatever doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. How strong are you?
Isn't he supposed to be a Spaniard? Spaniards can have blue eyes.
shareDo you believe that no Hispanics can have light eyes or hair?? Many hispanic aristocrats in fact do. Spain is in European and the people there share genes in common with other Europeans. Also many of the upper classes in Latin America are usually of pure Spanish or other European descent.
shareUh...Spaniards are caucasian and can have blue eyes just like any other.
Love Mr Hopkins but I wished they casted maybe Adam Rodriguez as Diego De La Vega and Edward James Olmos as Alejandro De La Vega. Wish Anthony Quinn lived long enough, he could have played Alejandro too. Or Alfred Molina, he has some spanish in him.
shareHopkins is a superior actor, so despite not being Spanish he sold it well enough.
The problem I see who could you have cast instead of him? A lot of a great Latin actors are in the same age bracket as Banderas.
Ironically what would have worked better was to have cast Banderas as Diego, and cast a 20 something actor as Alejandro. All you'd have to do is give Banderas make up to make him look older.
Still a great movie regardless.
I wish Anthony Quinn lived long enough for this, I would have casted him as Alajandro De La Vega and Antonio as Diego.
shareIsn't Olmos too Native American looking to play off a Spaniard?
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
Hopkins was great in this role. Who said the actor has to be the same nationality as his character? Anyone for Jean-Claude van Damme as Hercule Poirot?
shareIf his back was strong enough, (And I doubt it for the time) I would have cast Ricardo Montalban. He was thin, good at fencing, and very believable. However I don't think physically his back would have allowed him to pull it off. Which is a crying shame. I like the idea of Banderas as Old Zorro, and a 20 something as his pupil.
Montalban, young or middle-aged, would have been a terrific Zorro. Today, Benjamin Brat would make a great Zorro, even though he's pushing sixty.
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