ANTHONY HOPKINS - HOPKINS IN DEMAND AS PAINTER/COMPOSER

SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS is struggling to find time for his acting after finding he's an in-demand painter and composer. After years spent meddling with his hobbies at the easel and the piano, The Silence Of The Lambs star is now getting commissions and has to take his pastimes much more seriously. He explains, "I paint and I sell my paintings at galleries. They seem to go for a lot of money and I give the money to the local charities. "I paint these paintings and I don't have any basic training at all. I do it without having anxiety about what people think. It's a tremendous freedom and it makes me happy." But it's his music career that's really taking off - at the age of 69. Hopkins has a CD, featuring his compositions for new film Slipstream, coming out and he has suddenly become a composer of note. He adds, "I've been asked if I would write symphonic music for a symphony orchestra in Australia. Also I've been invited to Prague to write some music there."