BY GREG HERNANDEZ > LA.COM

The upcoming Academy Awards may be the talk of Tinseltown, but the 1992 winner of the best actor prize could not be further removed from the hoopla.

Sir Anthony Hopkins, whose Oscar came for his performance as Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs," called from London early Tuesday morning to talk about something far closer to his heart right now: "Slipstream," a film he wrote, directed, scored and co-starred in.

"It all goes over my head now," he said of awards buzz. "But I do vote."

In "Slipstream," Hopkins cast himself as an actor and aspiring screenwriter who is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide.

When speaking about the movie, Hopkins is passionate in a low-key way and, at times, sounds downright rebellious.

"I did it for the fun of it," he said. "I own the film and I didn't even know if we'd get distribution. I knew it would piss people off. Some critics got angry, which I'm really pleased about. I like annoying them. Some people liked it, some didn't because it broke all the rules."

"Slipstream" slipped in and out of theaters quickly last fall in a limited release. But Hopkins thinks it will be an interesting addition for anyone's DVD collection.

"Buy it if you want a night of confusion or stimulation," he said. "You can put it on rewind and see how I edited it. I think if you try to analyze it, it doesn't do any good."

Was it difficult to direct himself?

"It was easy," he said. "You say 'action,' you do your thing and the AD yells 'Cut!"'

Hopkins managed to attract a stellar cast that includes Christian Slater, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Turturro, Fionnula Flanagan, Camryn Manheim and Michael Clarke Duncan.

"They just jumped in the deep end and I'm happy about that," he said of the cast who saw a finished product far different than what they thought had been shot.

"When I went into the editing room for four months, I wanted some really off-the-wall editing and that's what we did. We went crazy. I wanted to turn it all upside down."

Obviously, the noir-comedy is far from the type of traditional drama that Hopkins has excelled in such as "The Remains of the Day," "Amistad" and "Nixon," all of which earned him Oscar nods. Hopkins won the British Academy Award for his performance in "Shadowlands" and Emmys for "The Bunker" and "The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case."

Hopkins is now 70 but still going strong. He is set to star with fellow Oscar winner Benicio del Toro in "The Wolf Man," which begins filming next week. Last year, he starred in both "Fracture" and "Beowulf."

As for the future, he doesn't sound too concerned: "I'll see where the mood takes me, just go along for the ride."

Vanity Fair calls off Oscar bash
It is still not known if the Oscars will be a star-studded affair this year since many of the nominees have no intention of crossing the picket line if the writers strike is still in full swing.

As a result, Vanity Fair magazine is being a big party pooper. The magazine on Tuesday canceled its annual Oscar party, which has long been the hottest ticket of the awards season.

The magazine released the following statement explaining their decision: "After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party. We want to congratulate all of this year's nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year."

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Read more celebrity news by Greg Hernandez at Out in Hollywood and Hollywood Joe.

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Photo of Anthony Hopkins by Dave Hogan/Getty Images.