It’s pretty standard, when an actor is promoting their latest project, to speak well of the director during interviews. Even so, it’s hard to tell whether Anthony Hopkins’ recent ode to Transformers: The Last Knight director Michael Bay—in which he called Bay both a “genius,” and a “savant”—is a testament to his skills as an actor, or a genuine affection for the man’s explosion-prone oeuvre.
Certainly, Hopkins seemed sincere in his praise for the Transformers series itself, saying he went back and got caught up on the movies after learning he was cast in the fifth installment. “Terrific,” he said in describing them, adding, “They were created by a genius.” (Hopkins seems most impressed with Bay’s technical fascination with his movie’s mechanical components, detailing the ways the director spoke at length to him about the way light glistens off the metal.) Not content to let his comments float in a vacuum, though, Hopkins then got comparative, calling Bay “the same ilk as Oliver Stone and Spielberg and Scorsese. Brilliance. Savants, really, they are. He’s a savant.”
While one might wonder whether Hopkins’ enthusiasm for Bay’s preternatural genius extends to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, as well, one isn’t the one with a Best Actor Oscar, so maybe one needs to rethink one’s opinions on 13 Hours or Transformers: Age Of Extinction. Honestly, one’s not sure what to think at this point.
In any case, Transformers: The Last Knight opens June 23.