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THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

© Sean Gallagher

Every once in awhile, a film comes along that captrues a place in our consciousness, and in 1991, that film was THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. It wasn't the biggest hit of 1991 (though it made about $130 million that year, several films, including TERMINATOR 2 and ROBIN HOOD, topped it), but it was one of the most talked about films of the year. "Quid pro pro" and "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." became part of the vernacular. Jodie Foster was already a star, but this helped her be a bigger one, and the film transformed Anthony Hopkins from somewhat well known to a star. The film also was controversial, when gays attacked the "Buffalo Bill" character for being anti-gay, the family values coalition thought the film glorified Anthony Hopkins' Dr. Lecter, and the feminists, who complained the film objectified women. Finally, it became only the third film to sweep the top five Oscars (after IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)).

Ironically enough, none of this was planned quite this way. Though the Thomas Harris novel this is based on was an acclaimed best-seller, Dino de Laurentis, who produced MANHUNTER (1986), the film based on SILENCE'S prequel, Red Dragon, decided to pass on it. Gene Hackman originally was going to make SILENCE his directorial debut, but ultimately passed on it, deciding he wasn't comfortable with the violence. Several actors passed on the role of Lecter, including Brian Cox (who originally played Lecter in MANHUNTER) and Jeremy Irons (who, ironically enough, played Lecter in a SILENCE spoof when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" that year), while several African-American actors, including Lou Gossett Jr. and Bill Duke, lobbied hard to play Lecter, until the producers decided that would open up a whole can of worms they didn't want to deal with. Finally, when director Jonathan Demme originally got the script, he offered the role of Clarice to Michelle Pfeiffer, since he had enjoyed making MARRIED TO THE MOB with her so much. But she also passed because, depending on who you talked to, she was also uncomfortable with the violence or she couldn't agree with the studio on her contract.

By now, the plot is familiar enough. Clarice Starling (Foster) is a rookie FBI agent sent by her boss, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn), to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins), ostensibly just to gather information on psychopaths in general, but really because Crawford wants Lecter's help in catching "Buffalo Bill" (Ted Levine), a serial killer who kidnaps women, skins them, and kills them. Lecter ultimately agrees to help Starling, whom he grows to admire, and even, in his own twisted way, love, but at a price; he wants her to tell him things about her. And so Starling must let a psychopath in her head as she races against time to stop Buffalo Bill before he kills his latest victim, Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), daughter of Senator Ruth Martin (Diane Baker).

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