Why Anthony Hopkins Is Raging Over Rumors He Feuded With Huge A-List Actress at Most Terrifying Height of His Acting Powers

OK! can reveal Anthony Hopkins has privately launched a blistering rebuttal against resurgent rumors he feuded with Jodie Foster during the making of their 1991 classic The Silence of the Lambs, telling pals the claims are an attempt to portray him as a real-life version of the cannibal monster he once played.

The veteran actor, 87, has been promoting his new memoir, We Did OK, Kid, when old tales of tension on set resurfaced online, prompting Hopkins to clarify the who, what, why, where and when behind the gossip about him and 63-year-old Foster.

The Oscar-winning film, shot in Pittsburgh at the height of Hopkins’ acting powers, paired him with Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling opposite his incarcerated flesh and organ-gobbling psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter.

While Foster has often described feeling frightened by Hopkins’ ultra-performance, speculation has persisted the two barely spoke and were at war on the set. Hopkins now says the rumor has spiraled far beyond reality.

He said on the “Armchair Expert” podcast: “I met Jodie, and she was very nice. There’s quotes that Jodie never spoke to me. That’s not true. We were quite friendly. There’s nothing spooky about it. That’s publicity c—.”

Foster has also spoken over the years about the eerie energy of the film.

She’s said: “We didn’t speak too much before the actual read-through (of the script.) And as (Hopkins) launched into Hannibal Lecter, I felt a chill come over the room.”

The actress has also admitted about making Lambs: “(I) never spoke to (Hopkins.) He was scary. In a way, it was like we were almost too scared to talk to each other after that.”

But a source close to Hopkins has now said the actor has grown increasingly frustrated the story paints him as a “real-life Lecter.”

The insider added: “Anthony thinks these feud rumors make him sound as psychopathic as Dr Lecter, which is absurd. He’s the softest luvvie actor imaginable, more into peace and inner harmony than anything else.”

They also said: “He posts gentle videos from his home all the time. That’s who he really is, and he hates that people might forget it because of this ‘feud’ rumor.”

Another longtime collaborator said the renewed attention feels like a “bad-faith revival of a myth that should have died years ago,” just when Hopkins is promoting his memoir.

They said: “Anthony has never been someone who thrives on backstage drama. He prepares, he focuses, he works. That’s it.”

In his autobiography, Hopkins acknowledges a “strange sense of distance during the (Lambs) shoot,” attributing it to the script’s intense psychological duel rather than personal friction with Foster. He notes whenever he and the actress meet now, the encounters are warm. Industry insiders say that reality often gets flattened when old rumors reappear on social media.

One movie source familiar with the Lambs shoot recalled both its lead actors were simply protecting their creative processes.

They said: “They were playing characters locked in a battle of minds. It made sense they kept a little distance. But there was no hostility. They were pros and staying apart on set made their on-screen chemistry crackle all the more.”

A friend of Hopkins added the actor now views the Internet’s appetite for conflict as unavoidable but still maddening. They said: “He just wants people to understand he’s not Hannibal Lecter. He’s an actor who happens to play intense roles. Off camera, he’s a pussycat and all heart.”