Dr Lecter, I presume?

Anthony Hopkins was catapulted to stardom by his performance as a psychopathic cannibal in The Silence of the Lambs. Now, 11 years on, he is being rapped for taking on undemanding roles. Lighten up, he tells Elaine Lipworth. Acting's just a job...

It's nine o'clock in the morning and Anthony Hopkins is directing two unknown actors in a production of Strindberg's play Miss Julie. "Keep it real, give her that message in your vocal responses to put her off – leave you alone. You're saying 'don't seduce me, go away,'" he instructs Hugh Fittzgerald, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a mug of black coffee. He works with the pair tirelessly on every aspect of the scene, from the subtlest movements to the intonation and dialogue. They redo it 20 times until he's happy.

This isn't a film set or professional theatre, it's a small college, the Ruskin School of Acting, located in an old hangar at Santa Monica airport where Hopkins volunteers once a week. He teaches the advanced class for students who have already been through a two-year programme. He commands at least 10 million dollars a movie, that was reportedly his fee for reprising his role as Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon earlier this year. But he says the time he spends here is more fulfilling than any of his film roles.

"It's just enjoyable being with these kids. When you're young it's just 'me me me'. Well I've got sick of me; you look in the shaving mirror and think God it's you again. The students do scenes from plays or film scripts and I dismantle them in a very calm and beneficial way I think. They tend to clutter and overdo everything and I say 'lets eliminate, lets keep it simple.' I really get a kick out of working with them."

He was introduced to the owner, the drama teacher John Ruskin, six months ago and decided to make a regular commitment. "I asked him 'how can I pay you?' and he said 'you already give me coffee'," says Ruskin, a lifelong Hopkins fanwho says he still can't believe his idol is teaching at the college. "I don't want to use that word 'important' or talk about 'giving back', that's too Mother Teresa'', smiles Hopkins, "but being here is pleasant and it's touching. My tiny little mission in life is to say to them 'there's no mystery to acting' and the great pleasure is seeing them open up."

Dressed rather formally in a cream check sports jacket, turquoise shirt, cream trousers and loafers, he looks tanned and fit, his silver hair cropped short. Watching him interacting with the students is compelling. He works through lunch without a break, transforming pedestrian performances into polished theatre.

Is it true that you read your lines 250 times to practise for the role, asks one student. "Yes, I'm a little whacko and a little phobic," he grins. "I have a kitchen at home with everything in it that I never use. If it gets even a little out of order I can't stand it. I don't like disorder. So, with learning lines I know 40 times is enough, but because I'm such a perfectionist I have to go further and further, it's my ego."

At the college, Hopkins resonates warmth and passion; he's engaging and friendly. The next time we meet is at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where he is in a different frame of mind. Here to promote his latest film, Bad Company, an action-comedy with the comedian, Chris Rock, he's polite and charming, but more reserved and detached. He won't discuss anything "personal" such as his recent divorce from his wife of 29 years, Jenni Lynton, and admits he's wary of British journalists who he claims often misquote him and are mean spirited about his success in the States. "Everything I did in England was ripped to pieces by the critics. I've had some unspeakable things said about me, so I thought 'I'm off'."

A US citizen for the past two years, he owns houses in Malibu and Pacific Palisades and says he doesn't miss Britain and has no plans to return. "I love Los Angeles," he sayssoftly, stroking his chin. "So many people say 'how can you live there?' But I think it's a wonderful place, there's so much life here. I love the climate, I love the coast, there's a sense of openness."

He has been criticised, particularly in Britain, for taking on less substantial films like Bad Company. "It's just a job," he says with a sigh, "it's not brain surgery. I did it because my agent thought I should do a big, commercial blockbuster." Hopkins plays a veteran CIA agent, Chris Rock is his protégé and they have nine days to save New York from devastation, following the theft of a nuclear device. The film is pure popcorn from the producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who was behind films such as Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop. "I said 'who's in it?' My agent said, 'Chris Rock'. I said, 'Oh yeah, I've seen him on television, he's very good,' so I partly read the script and called him and said, 'let's do it.'

"I arrived in New York and realised the script was overwritten as far as I was concerned, and said to the director, Joel Schumacher, 'I've got too many lines, let me just cut them out.' Some writers overwrite and you can say more by not speaking. Coming from the British stage there's a lot of talk and in films it doesn't really work." He adds that he has no interest in the theatre any more. "I don't hate it but I can't do it, I get bored after three nights."

Films are still "fun and interesting", he says, while insisting that there's no longer any passion. "No, I'm not passionate about anything," he says with a wry half smile. "I used to be fascinated by the process of acting, but as time goes by I can't take it seriously. I just learn the lines, show up and do it, that's all. They pay me well, I don't need to work again."

He says that his next film, The Human Stain, a drama with Nicole Kidman, gave him more job satisfaction. Hopkins plays a light-skinned black college professor in New England, who falls in love with the caretaker. Both stars appear naked and Hopkins admits he had some concerns. "It's the first time I've done something like this. It's a great part but not an easy part. My character is Afro American but he has been passing for white for years, he has found a woman and sex at an older age and the film is about the cancer of political correctness. Nicole plays a raunchy, outlandish outsider and we get involved in a sexual relationship. Ten years ago that would have been a little daunting because I'm not Robert Redford or Paul Newman, they're good-looking guys and I never had that kind of confidence in myself, but at 64 I don't have any problem, I think fine. What can they do? Arrest me? Put me in jail?"

Hopkins, who was catapulted to superstardom with The Silence of the Lambs, at the age of 53 maintains success had less to do with talent than good luck. "I drifted into this business. I wasn't very good at school. In 1958 I had to do national service and went into the army for two years – a waste of valuable time. I was a clerk sitting in an office in Salisbury plain – that was my military career. Then I came out of the army and thought, now what do I do? And just by fate or destiny or something I became an actor and 50 years later, here I am. I joined a small theatre company and was fired because I had no discipline. It took me years to learn the discipline of being more economical in my work. But I was fortunate to work with Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright and then Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in my first movie, The Lion In Winter, so, looking back, I've had good examples.

"But nothing's important, nothing's important. I enjoy taking care of my mother and I phone her and make sure she's OK. She loves to go out and party and it's a lot of fun making sure she's OK." He pauses. "Sometimes you're in rush hour driving like a maniac and you stop by a cemetery in a traffic jam – and you notice that everyone's very quiet." He laughs, suddenly more animated. "I'm just lucky to be above ground instead of underneath it. To hell with the traffic jam, you think it's really nice to be alive. That's important, that's a passion, to have a garden, to grow flowers or walk on the beach or feed the birds. I'm going home to play the piano this afternoon."

Perhaps, at 64, it's a sense of his own mortality that's led to what Hopkins admits is a new, reflective approach to life. "I do like getting older, I don't know why. I can still walk and stay in shape. There are no expectations any more, no passions or ambitions. I get up in the morning, go for breakfast, have a coffee at the coffee shop with a friend or by myself. That, for me, is the height of enjoyment. Just to be lucky enough to get up in the morning instead of being ill, in the hospital or dead."

'Bad Company' opens today, see Anthony Quinn's review on page 11