We celebrate the anniversary of the premiere of the film starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins with a compilation of curious facts about its production.
Time flies and, even if it is hard to believe, The Silence of the Lambs has just celebrated its 30th anniversary. The masterful big screen adaptation of Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name, directed by Jonathan Demme, premiered in the United States on February 14, 1991. The movie, winner of five Oscars, was well received by audiences and critics, thanks to its wonderful script, Demme’s excellent direction and, of course, the brilliant performances of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, as Hannibal Lecter y Clarice Starling. Since then, it is inevitable to think about both actors and not imagine them in the shoes of the ruthless criminal and the young FBI agent.
But, Did you know that Hopkins and Foster weren’t the director’s first picks? Jonathan Demme had other actors in mind for the main roles in the film, although for various reasons he could not count on them. This is one of the curious details that surrounded the production of The Silence of the Lambs, but not the only one. Did you know that Hannibal Lecter appears on screen for less than 25 minutes? And that Buffalo Bill’s dance wasn’t in the script? To answer these and other questions we have compiled 10 curious facts related to the Oscar-winning feature film.
1. Gene Hackman could be Hannibal Lecter
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And not because it was Jonathan Demme’s first choice, but because the actor, a two-time Oscar winner, had already had his eye on Thomas Harris’s novel shortly after its publication. Gene Hackman proposed to Orion Pictures the acquisition of the book rights, with the intention of direct and star in its adaptation to the big screen. However, his latest feature film, the drama Arde Mississippi, directed by Alan Parker and produced by Orion, left Hackman quite psychologically touched, and he preferred to disengage from the project. Curiously, and despite his interest in getting behind the scenes in The silence of the lambs, the actor has never been able to sit in the director’s chair.
2. Jodie Foster as director?
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The acclaimed novel by Thomas Harris, winner of the 1988 Bram Stoker Prize, also landed in the hands of Jodie Foster. The actress was so fascinated with the plot narrated in it, that the possibility of buying the rights to take it to the cinema was raised. Too bad Gene Hackman came forward, and Foster had to settle for joining the project as the female lead, Clarice Starling. The interpreter wanted to get her thorn out of the direction, and a few months after arriving at the The silence of the lambs, her first feature film as a director, the drama Little Tate, was released.
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3. Michelle Pfeiffer turned down the role of Clarice
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Jodie Foster’s dream of participating in some way in the production of The silence of the lambs was about to be truncated. The reason was none other than Johantan Demme’s interest in Michelle Pfeiffer for the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling. The actress read the script, and after learning the macabre story that was told in it, she decided to reject the role. Pfeiffer recently confessed, in an interview with The New Yorker, that there was too much “badness in that movie” and that it “upset him too much.”
4. Jonatham Demme didn’t want Jodie Foster
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Of course, Jodie Foster’s entry into the project was not an easy ride. After having been left with the desire to take charge, getting the leading role also cost him some displeasure. After receiving the refusal of Michelle Pfeiffer, the New York filmmaker, who died in April 2017, set his sights on Meg Ryan and Laura Dern as candidates to play agent Starling. Apparently, according to Demme himself, when she was offered to participate in the film, Ryan was quite upset. The opposite happened with Dern, its popularity was so low that it was banned by the producers of the film.
After these three refusals, the director, who at first considered that Foster had too much Californian accent to give life to Clarice, sided with the producers and gave her the role. Years later, she would admit that she had to swallow her own words, because seeing Foster’s wonderful performance she “fell in love with her.”
5. Sean Connery, first choice for Hannibal Lecter
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Anthony Hopkins was also not Demme’s first choice for the role of Hannibal Lecter. The filmmaker had noticed Sean Connery, who after winning the Oscar for The Untouchables by Eliot Ness, could be a great claim to attract the public in a massive way to movie theaters. Demme sent him the script, but, as he confessed in an interview with Deadline, Connery was unwilling to play such a disgusting role.. Immediately afterwards, the director traveled to London, to offer the character to Anthony Hopkins. Demme acknowledged that, during the first reading of the script, both he and the producers were fascinated by Hopkins’ wonderful and terrifying performance of Lecter.
6. An Oscar for less than 25 minutes on screen
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Sure when you think about The silence of the lambs The first thing that comes to mind is the image of Hannibal Lecter. But have you ever stopped to analyze how long the character of Hopkins appears? It may surprise you, but not 25 minutes, of the almost 120 that Jonathan Demme’s film lasts, are the ones that can be seen on the screen to the ruthless criminal. Exactly 24 minutes and 52 seconds that you can see Lecter in action. This curious detail was of no importance to the members of the Hollywood Academy, who considered that Anthony Hopkins deserved the Oscar for Best Actor.
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7. The reason behind Lecter’s white outfit
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That Hannibal Lecter is one of the most terrifying and disturbing characters in cinema is indisputable. His Machiavellian mind is already enough to frighten any human being, but if that is accompanied by a special clothing, the levels of horror are insurmountable. A simple white dress, which was proposed by Anthony Hopkins himself. The actor claimed that this color would be perfect because is what doctors look like, dentists, nurses and other medical personnel, whom most of us identify with unpleasant things, which usually generate a lot of tension. In this way, a feeling of discomfort was generated towards the viewer each time it appeared on the screen.
8. Ted Levine suggested the Buffalo Bill dance
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Although Hannibal Lecter positions himself as the true enemy of Agent Starling, his entrance on the scene is due to the investigation that the FBI is carrying out to catch the serial killer who calls himself Buffalo Bill. To create this sinister, sadistic and despicable character, Thomas Harris was inspired by the mid-19th century serial killer Ed Gein. A character who, on screen, knew how to portray Ted Levine wonderfully. And in case seeing him on screen wasn’t scary enough, Levine thought it would be even more terrifying if Bill danced in front of the camera..
The idea was applauded by Jonathan Demme and the rest of the team, and was eventually included in the film’s script. And I am often right, because Bill’s dance to ‘Googbye Horses’, de Q. Lazzarus, it became one of the most hypnotic moments of the film. A moment that remains etched in the viewer’s retina forever. Of course, to shoot this scene, and despite having proposed it himself, Levine confessed that he had to take a couple of shots of tequila.
9. A real mockery, but with love
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If you have seen The silence of the lambsYou probably haven’t forgotten that first meeting between Clarice and Lecter. A sober encounter, with brutal chemistry, in which both characters manage to eat the camera, and leave the audience speechless. During the conversation that the trainee has with the criminal sadist, a certain contempt for Lecter can be seen in Clarie’s expression. This feeling was not included in it, since Lecter’s comment mocking the young agent’s southern accent -in the original version- was improvised by Hopkins himself. At the time, Foster was greatly offended by her stage partner’s gratuitous attack. But when she learned that it had been a trick by the actor to generate more tension in the scene, she was deeply grateful.
10. A very artistic poster
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Of course, the poster of The silence of the lambs It is one of the most mythical, and recognizable, in the world of cinema. In it, the whitish face of Clarice Starling appears, with a moth stuffing her mouth. If you look at the head of the insect you can see a disturbing human skull, in reference to the one found in the skull of one of Buffalo Bill’s victims. A skull inspired by the famous work of Salvador Dali, “The Pleasure Death ‘, in which seven naked women form a chilling human skull.
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