Hopkins explores horrors of dementia in ‘The Father’

Watch out members of the Oscars Academy Award jury.

Convincing movie legend Anthony Hopkins to star in your first-ever film is a tall order for any director.

But Florian Zeller — the acclaimed French writer, adapting his own play “The Father” for the big screen — was so determined, he even changed his main character’s name and birthdate to those of his dream leading man.

“I really wrote the script for him. He was the desire and the dream,” Zeller told AFP. “Until someone comes and says it’s not possible, it means that potentially it is possible.”

Fortunately the gambit paid off, with the “Silence of the Lambs” actor signing up — alongside fellow Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman as his daughter — for Zeller’s devastating dementia drama.

The film, containing elements of thriller and horror genres, takes viewers on a deliberately disorientating journey inside Anthony’s fast-slipping mind.

Family members become unrecognizable, and over-familiar strangers inexplicably appear in his own plush London apartment, which itself appears to shift before his — and our — eyes.

The film screened at last week’s Toronto film festival after rave reviews at its Sundance premiere in January. It is due to be released by Sony Pictures Classics in December. 

Seven months out from the Oscars, Hopkins (82) is already seen by many as a safe bet for a sixth Academy nomination.

Watch out for another masterpiece performance from one of the great actors of our time.