On a knight’s quest

> Sir Anthony Hopkins is lording it over in his role as an aristocratic bot expert in the latest Transformers sequel, out on June 22

How did you proceed? “Like everything else – learn the part; learn all the lines. But what I do know about directors like Michael Bay … you know, they have reputations for being tough. Like Oliver Stone, or any of the great ones. But tough, in a good way. And I respect that.

“And therefore, you, the actor, you have to know what you’re doing. You have to be there ready to go. If they want you to improvise, then you improvise.

“So I arrived in England and met Mark Wahlberg and Laura Haddock and was soon on location.”

What can you tell us about your character? “Well, I can’t tell you much (laughs) … He’s an English lord, an aristocrat whose lineage goes back a thousand years, ancient families and all that – back to the court of King Arthur.

“And he knows that the Transformers come from that period in time, and that they’re now going to take over the Earth. That there’s going to be a battle with the humans.”

What was it like working with Wahlberg? “He’s really terrific. Excellent actor. And very quiet, actually. You know, comes on set prepared and does it.

“He also likes to improvise and I like that too. Honestly, when you have a good script, and this was an excellent script, the rest is easy.

“If a director doesn’t want you to improvise because he values his writing that much, then fine. Just learn the script.

“But a really good director has the capacity to say: ‘Okay, let’s kick this about’.”

Do you have a favourite

movie? “I love the ones with Shia LaBeouf, especially the very first one I saw because I didn’t know what to expect. The others with Wahlberg too.

“I actually watched them all again before we started filming just to be fresh. I really think they’re terrific.”

Do you have a favourite Autobot? (Laughs) “No, not really. But kids would ask me that when we were in London, when we were filming on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace.

“You know, all these kids were there and they wanted photographs with me. And they would ask me: ‘Do you know Bumblebee’? I’d say: ‘Yeah, very well. We had breakfast this morning’!”