In an interview published in the "Los Angeles Times" just before the film first aired on TV in 1981, Anthony Hopkins said his biggest problem as an actor in playing Adolf Hitler was working out a voice for the private Hitler. Many records and films exist of Hitler speaking in public, working his way into overwrought screaming, but Hopkins didn't think he had talked that way in private and had to work out a credible voice for the private Hitler speaking to friends and staff members.