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Hopkins often uses his past to find his way into a character. It’s not homosexuality, but it is a sexuality, a kind of bonding. And I noticed the women were sipping their ports and brandy, but all the men were, ‘Come on, drink! Drink!’ I thought, ‘There’s something very Greek about this.’ Men together. After Richard Burton died, his brother Graham invited me to the Dorchester where they were all having a get-together, the wives and the men, all the sisters and brothers.

There’s a negative side to that, because we’re not very good at receiving love or giving it. “There’s nothing soft or touchy-feely about any of us, where we were from in Wales. “I come from a generation where men were men,” Hopkins says. The scenes where Lear wants to bring his retinue to Regan’s house are reminiscent of an awful, all-boys-together drink-fest. He seeks refuge in men, surrounding himself with a boisterous male army. Hence the awful specificity of the curses he rains on his older daughters, damning their wombs. Hopkins believes that Lear is terrified of women, can’t understand them. Of the older two daughters, Emily Watson said, “and I agree with her, that they have become monsters, because he made them so”. Hopkins’ theory is that Lear’s wife died giving birth to Cordelia, and Lear brought her up, his favourite, as a tomboy. He is fantastic: his white hair close-cropped, his manner like a heavy-headed bull, a scary tyrant losing his powers, a drinker who flips into terrifying rage. In a star-studded cast – Emma Thompson plays Goneril Emily Watson, Regan Jim Broadbent, Gloucester Jim Carter, Kent Andrew Scott, Edgar – it’s Hopkins who dominates. Now, he feels he’s got Lear right, and few would disagree. I was floundering.” I come from a generation where men are not very good at receiving or giving love. “I was… ” – he counts in his head “… 48,” he says. He’s played the part before, at the National Theatre in 1986, with David Hare directing. And it’s so invigorating, because I know I can do it, and I’ve got my sense of humour, my humility, and nothing’s been destroyed.”

“I felt, ‘Yes, I can do this.’ I can do this sort of work. Still, he declares that the film we are here to talk about, the BBC’s King Lear, filmed in England and directed by Richard Eyre, is the piece of work that has made him truly happy. He is enjoying this – “We’re filming in the Sistine Chapel tomorrow!” – and we are both relishing the lovely view across the city from the penthouse suite in the hotel where he’s staying. Hopkins is playing Benedict, Jonathan Pryce is Francis. We meet in Rome, where he is making a Netflix film about the relationship between the last pope (Benedict) and the current one (Francis). Every so often, I think he’s going to stop the interview and take flight, but actually he’s enjoying himself and keeps saying, “Ask me more! This is great!” You can feel a quicksilver energy about him, a restlessness. Work has given me my energy” – and he is in no way contemplating slowing down. Much of his self-esteem and vigour comes from acting – “Oh, yes, work has kept me going.

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