Film star Brian Cox is jealous of the Oscar Anthony Hopkins won for portraying Hannibal Lecter – because he did it first.
The 75-year-old Scot played the role of the cannibalistic serial killer in the 1986 film Manhunter, before Hopkins starred in Silence of the Lambs five years later.
While Manhunter gained mixed reviews, Hopkins’ movie was one of few films to win the Oscar in all the major five categories : Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Cox says he and Hopkins “get on incredibly well” but have an unspoken rule that they never discuss Hannibal Lecter, creation of author Thomas Harris.
He said: “I so envy Tony because he’s got the most extraordinary skills, he can paint, he can write music, I can’t do any of that stuff and he’s extraordinary.
“We’ve worked together and we get on very well, as a couple of Celts we get on incredibly well, but we never talk about Hannibal Lecter, it’s a given.
“The only thing I envy about the Oscar was the money, the money he made, but nothing else.”
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