Hollywood for grownups: is anthony hopkins the busiest octogenarian in show business? | members only

Stars continually find new avenues to express themselves, whether they’re acting, playing music, painting, writing or taking photos — some of them indulge multiple creative passions at once.

Johnny Depp Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images LIKE IT OR NOT, DEPP’S BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT If you’ve missed seeing the controversial — and talented — JOHNNY DEPP over the past few years, fear not:

The formerly canceled 61-year-old is about to be uniquely ubiquitous. He’s directed his first film in 25 years (since the 1997 flop _The Brave_, starring Marlon Brando): _Modi_, the story

of bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani (he of the elongated faces), set in Paris during World War I. Depp will debut his project at the Venice Film Festival in late August. It’s financed by

Italians and stars Al Pacino. Depp will appear on-screen this year or in early 2025 in _Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires. _Part documentary/part concert, the film gives

the history of the somewhat iconic, loosely configured band Hollywood Vampires, named after a celebrity drinking club in the ’70s whose members included John Lennon, Ringo Starr, 84, Alice

Cooper, 76, and Micky Dolenz, 79, of the Monkees. Depp cofounded the band Hollywood Vampires in 2012 with Cooper and Joe Perry, 73, of Aerosmith. Depp’s weirdest new project is _Johnny’s

Inferno_, directed by avant-garde artist Boris Acosta, a scholar of Dante, the 1300s poet who wrote _The Divine Comedy_, the first third of which is _Inferno_. Little is known about the art

film, but TikTok fans report it’s a pro-Johnny film about “a gentle soul” who has dealt with abuse. It has some Hollywood cred: Robert Downey Jr., 59, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer, 66,

Dustin Hoffman, 86, Helena Bonham Carter, 58, Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, and Kate Moss, 50, were all interviewed. Despite all this upcoming exposure, a longtime Depp associate tells AARP, “He

really just wants to be left alone.” Anthony Hopkins in "Those About to Die." Reiner Bajo/Peacock HOPKINS’ HIGHLY CHARGED BRAIN AT WORK ANTHONY HOPKINS, 86, a.k.a. Tony, a.k.a.

double Oscar winner, can soon be seen in another of his larger-than-life roles as Emperor Vespasian in the epic Roman gladiator drama _Those About to Die_ (July 18, Peacock). When he’s not

acting or dancing or writing or composing or painting or charmingly chatting on social media, Hopkins is working with his wife again, actress/writer/director Stella Arroyave, 68. The couple

of two decades collaborated on the 2007 film _Slipstream_ (she starred, he wrote/directed/composed). She’s directing a documentary on Hopkins’ life, while he pens his autobiography — and

preps _The King of Covent Garden_, a film about baroque German composer George Frideric Handel (_Messiah_). Believe it or not, Hopkins is involved in at least three other upcoming films,

including _Mary_ (Magdalene), in which he plays King Herod. The man has more gusto than people half his age — and that’s after he revealed in 2017 that he has Asperger’s syndrome. “I have a

very highly charged brain,” Hopkins modestly told _ARTnews_. “It’s the way I’m constructed, nothing I can take credit for.”