I'm not sure when Sir Anthony Hopkins acquired a taste for big-budget genre. Glancing at his IMDB, I'd say it occurred somewhere in the 1990s with The Silence of the Lambs and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He enjoyed terrifying us, and he never really looked back. Fresh off Asgard's throne and mead halls, Hopkins has decided he needs to thaw out in the desert. According to THR's Heat Vision, the actor has joined Arabian Nights alongside Liam Hemsworth.I've ragged on this Arabian Nights 3D extravaganza re-imagining quite a bit already. Hopkins' addition makes me hesitate a little bit, but perhaps I'll let its crazy, crazy plot speak for itself. You remember that it centers on a young commander (Hemsworth) who pairs up with Ali Baba, Sinbad, and the genie to rescue Scheherazade from -- surprise! -- Hopkins' evil sorcerer, Pharotu.
As if his menacing Scheherazade wasn't bad enough, it turns out Pharotu killed Sinbad's mermaid love. In The (original) Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, he married a merchant, but now we find out he had a mermaid on the side. I don't think that was ever going to end well, Pharotu or not.
Chuck Russell will be directing the film, which is supposed to swashbuckle before cameras later this summer. Considering Hopkins just finished filming with the elder Hemsworth (whom he defended mightily against ugly rumors), I wonder what that will be like. A lot of "Hmm, your brother would have done that differently!", or just a lot of in-jokes? I'd love to be around the lunch line just to find out.
