The night before we started filming, I was sleeping and, literally, the ghost of Ann Lee was over my bed with angels around and she said: Go forth! Was that my imagination allowing myself to go forth? Maybe, probably. It was so intense that I will never forget it.
What's the weather like over there? asks Anthony Hopkins as soon as our video call begins. He may have lived in California for decades but some Welshness remains, in his distinctive, mellifluous voice perhaps a little hoarser than it once was and his preoccupation with the climate. It's a dark evening in London but a bright, sunny morning in Los Angeles, and Hopkins is equally bright in demeanour and attire, sporting a turquoise and green shirt.
"There's a certain kind of energy that could be produced by a performative idea of communication, and that's what I'm interested in," said the Academy Award-winning director of "12 Years a Slave." "I'm not the kind of person who stands for an hour reading from a piece of paper. I think the audience needs more, and I feel I need to give more.