4. Picasso
The great artist Pablo Picasso exists well beyond the limits of normal genius - his works are rightly considered ground-breaking masterpieces, even though some will never forgive him for never being quite able to get facial perspective correct. His life story was bountiful enough to inspire a biopic - 1996's Surviving Picasso - which focused rather unnecessarily on Picasso's status as a womaniser and misanthrope. It could have been a lot different, had the film been allowed to be based on the originally intended text - Gilot's Life with Picasso - but licensing issues prevented both that and the depiction of his works in the film. Perhaps those slammed doors led to an underlying negativity, since the film isn't exactly the celebration Picasso fans would have wanted - and unfortunately Surviving Picasso was a critical failure, and is probably one of Hopkins' least seen films. For his own part, he is quite strong, working with poor materials, but Hopkins' performance can't quite survive the fact that he's in a biopic that doesn't quite know what it is, and which doesn't really focus on the subject enough.
How They Really Looked
Hopkins' Version Though the artist had a distinctive face, lined by age with charismatic effect, there's very little in terms of substantial features that could have been replicated for the Hopkins' performance. He didn't have many distinguishing marks, or a giant, unique beard that could be added for a little more visual authenticity, so Hopkins was left with just the short cropped white hair and the tanned skin to play with. The result, of course was simply Anthony Hopkins after his summer holidays.