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Anthony Hopkins laughs in the face of death
Sir Anthony Hopkins had no concern for his own life as he performed death-defying motorbike stunts in the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
Hopkins stars in the Burt Monro biopic The World's Fastest Indian, directed by Roger Donaldson, and recently recalled that the experience of being dragged along the salt flats at high speed was not terrifying, but hilarious.
Clearly covered by cheap motorbike insurance, the Welsh-born actor admitted: "[the stunt was] the most peculiar thing I've ever done.
"If my wife could only see me, she wouldn't let me get on the bike."
More concerned for himself than his no-claims bonus, the actor explained that he usually avoided performing his own stunts: "I don't think it's necessary to take unnecessary risks because if you do those big stunts and you break a leg or an ankle, the film is over.
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"I admire those guys, those stunt guys; they're brave, brave men," he added.
The producers had managed to persuade Sir Hopkins, who turns 70 next year, into performing the stunt, no doubt with the finest cheap motorbike insurance around.
Speaking about the motorbike crash scene earlier this month, Hopkins confirmed that it was indeed him being dragged around at 70 miles an hour.
The stunt was filmed on the same Utah salt flats where Burt Monro set his land-speed record of 190.07 miles per hour in 1967.
The record still stands as the fastest ever achieved on an Indian, and the New Zealander became a cult figure for modifying his 1920s motorbike and achieving his apparent pipe dream of breaking speed records.
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