June 20, 2025, 10:39 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins has shaped many cinematic masterpieces. However, in an interview, the actor harshly criticized one of his projects: his very first Hollywood film. For Hopkins, it was both an artistic and personal low point.
Anthony Hopkins has been on stage and in front of the camera for over seven decades. His career includes award-winning films such as “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Father.” However, his start in Hollywood was anything but glamorous. In 1974, he took on a supporting role in the romantic comedy “The Girl from Petrovka.” Today, Hopkins retrospectively calls the work “the worst film of all time”—an assessment shared by many critics.
A Failed Hollywood Debut
With his role as Kostya, a Russian rival, the Wales-born Hopkins, who was born in 1937, first entered the American film industry. The film is based on George Feifer’s novel “The Girl from Petrovka” and tells the love story between U.S. journalist Joe (Hal Holbrook) and Russian ballet dancer Oktyabrina (Goldie Hawn), who lives in the Soviet Union without valid papers. Their relationship soon attracts the attention of the local authorities.
Originally, filming was planned in Belgrade, but two weeks before it began, the Yugoslav production company Inex Film withdrew. The reasons for this remained officially unclear, but director Robert Ellis Miller suspected political pressure from Moscow. The production was eventually moved to Vienna.
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Anthony Hopkins Criticizes “The Girl from Petrovka”
The film was completed in 1974. However, it was a commercial and artistic failure. Critics noted that Goldie Hawn seemed unconvincing in her role as a Russian, and Hal Holbrook appeared rather colorless. Additionally, the script was a collection of worn-out clichés. Hopkins himself did not hold back his opinion. As reported by the British “The Far Out Magazine,” he called “The Girl from Petrovka” in an interview “the worst film of all time.” Remarkably, he never saw the film, but the filming experience was “simply awful.”
According to Hopkins, the project was a turning point for him—but in a negative way. It took three years before he appeared in another major Hollywood film. Yet, his next attempt, “Audrey Rose,” directed by Oscar winner Robert Wise, also flopped. Even “Magic” by Richard Attenborough, for which Hopkins received a Golden Globe nomination, did not satisfy him. Nevertheless, the actor was not discouraged and continued to build his career.
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From Flop to Legend
Today, Anthony Hopkins is considered one of the most influential and renowned actors worldwide. He excelled especially in character roles. For his role as Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs,” he was awarded an Oscar in 1992—with only 17 minutes of screen time. In 2021, he received another Academy Award for the dementia drama “The Father.” Despite all his successes, “The Girl from Petrovka” remains a reminder of his Hollywood career start—a project Hopkins says he would prefer to forget.