Hannibal will get you

Most great actors manage to do the chameleon thing. Even when one role leaves a lasting impression on you, you can watch them do something totally different, and convincingly, at that.
However, sometimes this doesnt work. Either the actor has become so big and larger than life, that you see him or her rather than the character. Or, there is such a massive hangover of a previous role, that that one keeps hovering overhead.
Yesterday I was watching one of my favourite actors, Anthony Hopkins. I had seen Remains of the Day a while ago; I watched it again yesterday. But in the interim somewhere, I had also seen Hopkins as Hannibal.
And that was my undoing. Because now, when I watched the self-effacing, overcautious and emotions-in-check butler, I kept thinking, oh-oh, he's going to chop up his employer at night. Oh oh, Emma Thompson he's going to have for breakfast.
Where before I saw him superbly portraying, as the butler, a painfully reserved man letting life pass him by, now, Hannibal's shadows played in Hopkins's eyes, and I expected him to do that horrible thing with his tongue and voice.
There is a brilliant scene in which his employer calls him in, and one of his guests bombards him with complex political questions (just to prove his point that democracy puts power in the hands of the 'dull-witted underclass' who dont have the information or brains to choose wisely). Anthony Hopkins does a superb job of holding on to his dignity and politely saying again and again 'I will not be able to say anything about that sir' (or words to that effect). Part of you wants him to be not so butler-ish and thwack the guest on the head. This was before I saw Hannibal. Now, in this viewing of Remains of the Day, a chill ran up my spine. I found myself thinking, ah, this guest at this country home is going to get separated from his liver very soon, though I watched Anthony Hopkins replying ever-so-correctly and staying totally in character of a slightly beaten man. And when Emma Thompson teases him a little and also scoffs at him slightly, you fear for her life!
It's a little like the other Anthony - Perkins from Psycho. He couldnt get work because the shadow of Psycho followed him everywhere. Luckily Hannibal was not Hopkins's first role.