Long before he was the Chianti-swigging, flesh-eating Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins was chilling cinemagoers in this 1978 psycho-drama, playing a deranged ventriloquist and his foul-mouthed, knife-wielding dummy alter-ego, Fats. Directed by Sir Dickie Attenborough and adapted by William Goldman from his own novel, Magic charts Hopkins’ transformation from failed magician to successful ventriloquist, finding love and insanity on the verge of his big break. While the action is confined to brief set-pieces (Child’s Play it ain’t) and the slow-burning plot has an unfortunate stage-play feel, the film succeeds as a haunting character study thanks to Hopkins’ uncompromising lead. Beautifully encapsulating every emotion from self-loathing to all-out rage, the star conjures a spellbinding and arguably career-high turn.

DVD Extras:

Screenwriting featurette
Making Of documentary
Interviews

Revelations from the Screenwriting For Dummies doc and Fats And Friends featurette reveal Hopkins wasn’t the first actor in mind, with Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino and, yikes, Chevy Chase originally considered. Other extras include a new interview with cinematographer Victor J Kemper, and Goldman and ventriloquist Dennis Alwood offering a decent overview of the movie. Disappointingly, though, Hopkins is only represented by archive interviews and Attenborough is nowhere to be seen or heard.