At Least Anthony Hopkins Had Fun at the Oscars

It surely must be exciting to attend the Academy Awards as a nominee, filled with anxiety and excitement as you wait to see if your name will be called to collect a gold statue. But one has to imagine there’s nothing better than attending the award show as a previous winner, with no stakes in the year’s ceremonies. You already have a trophy (or two) at home, and your only job for the evening is to look good, have fun, and maybe take the stage at one point. That was the position Anthony Hopkins found himself in last night, and he fully embraced it. The two-time Best Actor winner’s only role at the 2022 Oscars was to present the Best Actress award to Jessica Chastain, which he did without error, and after that, he was free to have fun, and have fun he did.

In fact, the good time began even before the ceremony started. Ahead of hitting the red carpet last night, the actor shared a video on Instagram of his pre-show routine, which included dancing around, singing a little tune, and seemingly doing a bit of scatting. He was clearly excited to attend the awards, after skipping them last year when he won Best Actor for The Father, which Hopkins later explained he did because he assumed the late Chadwick Boseman would win the prize for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. So, instead of traveling to Los Angeles during the height of Covid, he opted to stay in Wales, so he could lose in the comfort of his own home. Of course, he ended up winning the prize, and finding out through a text from his agent.

Yes, Hopkins was in a good mood entering into the night and it seemingly continued. Following the show, Hopkins headed to the Vanity Fair Oscar party, where journalist Nicole Sperling caught a video of the actor pulling his wife onto the dance floor while the DJ played “Lloraras” by Oscar D’Leon. Hopkins is clearly feeling the music, though his wife less so and she stops him right when he’s just getting into it. Hopefully, though, she joined him out on the floor later in the night, but either way, Hopkins’ joy was a necessary antidote to the sour note the show ended on thanks to Will Smith and his slap heard around the world. Instead of remembering the 2022 Oscars for that moment, let’s instead remember it for introducing us to Hopkins dancing prowess.