The Silence of the Lambs
To enter the mind of a killer she must challenge the mind of a madman.
Country
Production
Budget
$19 000 000
Box office
$272 742 922
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Ronald M. Bozman, Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt, Gary Goetzman
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Kristi Zea, Gary Kosko, Natalie Wilson
Audition
Howard Feuer
Editing
Craig McKay
Whole Team (138)
Whole Team (138)
Short description
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Thomas Harris' novel 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1988).
- The role of Hannibal Lecter was offered to Gene Hackman, who was also offered to direct. At the same time, Michelle Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan were considered for the role of Clarice.
- In addition to Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irons and Brian Cox also auditioned for the role of Dr. Lecter.
- Most of the footage was shot in Pittsburgh. The city was ideal for filming due to the abundance of architectural structures and other beautiful locations. This allowed the film crew to create the illusion that filming took place in different parts of the country.
- This film became the third in the history of the Academy Awards to win all 5 major awards: “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” “Best Actor,” “Best Actress,” and “Best Screenplay.” Previously, the same honors were bestowed upon “It Happened One Night” (1934) and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” (1975).
- Anthony Hopkins, describing the voice given to his character Hannibal Lecter, called it a “symbiosis of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn.”
- If you look closely at the poster, you can see an image of a skull on the body of a butterfly. And if you look even more closely, you can make out that the skull consists of at least three nude women (there are versions of the poster where you can count up to seven women).
- During one of the scenes in the solitary confinement cell, Anthony Hopkins tried to look directly into the camera, justifying this action by the fact that this angle would give the audience the impression that his character “knows absolutely everything.”
- Initially, the plan was to release the film in the fall of 1990. However, Orion Pictures decided to hold the release until January 1991, in order not to create competition for another of their hits, "Dances with Wolves," which also participated very successfully in the Oscar race.
- During preparation for his role, Anthony Hopkins carefully studied files on the most famous serial killers of our time. He also visited prisons where these individuals were held and even attended a couple of high-profile trials.
- While studying video footage, Anthony noticed that the maniac Charles Manson never blinked during conversations, and immediately transferred this observation to the screen.
- Screenwriter Ted Tally, while creating the script for the film, saw only Jodie Foster in the role of Agent Starling. However, when Jonathan Demme took the director's chair, he decided to change the choice of his predecessors and invited Michelle Pfeiffer to the film.
- Michelle Pfeiffer turned down the lead role, citing concerns that the film would be quite bloody and violent. After that, Jonathan Demme decided to invite Jodie Foster to the project, and as it turned out, he made the right decision.
- The main motif of the plot had parallels with real events, namely the relationship between Professor of Criminology Robert Keppel and the serial killer Ted Bundy.
- Despite all his crimes, Ted Bundy assisted in solving a whole series of murders. Ted was executed on January 24, 1989, but the killer was not found until 2001 – 12 years after Bundy's execution. He turned out to be Gary Ridgway, who confessed to 48 crimes.
- During preparation for filming, Jodie Foster and Scott Glenn were provided with audio recordings made by serial killers during the murders they committed. Jodie flatly refused to listen to these chilling recordings, but Scott, unfortunately, decided to, and as a result, he was plagued by nightmares for a considerable time.
- Brooke Smith, who played the kidnapped girl Catherine, and Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill, were very close during the filming of the movie.
- In December 2011, the film was included in the U.S. National Film Registry as having significant cultural, historical, or aesthetic value.
- The maniac known as Buffalo Bill was created as a composite image of three real-life serial killers. So, let's meet these terrifying individuals, each responsible for the deaths of at least fifty people: Ed Gein, who liked to flay the skin off his victims, the handsome Ted Bundy, who used a fake arm cast to attract naive women, and Gary Heidnik, who enjoyed keeping his victims in a deep pit where they usually died of starvation.
- During their first meeting, Dr. Lecter hinted at where to find Buffalo Bill. He described a drawing he had made on the wall of his solitary confinement cell: “It’s called the Duomo—I saw the painting in Belvedere, Italy.” Later, Starling learns that Buffalo Bill lives in Belvedere, Ohio.
- The man in the blue cap in the final scene of the film is director Jonathan Demme, who played a cameo role in his own movie.
- In the film, Jayme is sometimes referred to as James, and sometimes by the feminine name Jamie. In the book, children teased him about his name as a child, which contributed to his transgender identity.
- Anthony Hopkins, describing the voice he gave Hannibal Lecter, called it a symbiosis of the voices of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn.
- Anthony Hopkins was given 24 minutes and 52 seconds of screen time, which did not prevent him from winning an Academy Award for Best Actor.
- The film is based on the novel 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1988) by Thomas Harris.
- The role of Hannibal Lecter was offered to Gene Hackman, who was also invited to direct. At the same time, Michelle Pfeiffer and Meg Ryan were considered for the role of Clarice.
- In addition to Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irons, and Brian Cox were also considered for the role of Doctor Lecter.
- Most of the footage was shot in Pittsburgh. The city was ideal for filming due to its vast number of architectural structures and other scenic locations. As a result, the film crew managed to create the illusion that filming took place in various corners of the country.
- This film became only the third in the history of the Academy Awards to win all five major awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. Previously, 'It Happened One Night' (1934) and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) had received the same honors.
- Describing the voice he gave to Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins called it a symbiosis of the voices of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn.
- If you look closely at the poster, you can see an image of a skull on a butterfly's body. And if you look even closer, you can discern that the skull is composed of at least three naked women (there are versions of the poster where as many as seven women can be counted).
- During one of the scenes in the solitary confinement cell, Anthony Hopkins tried to look directly into the camera, reasoning that this angle would give the audience the impression that his character 'knows absolutely everything'.
- The original plan was to release the film in the fall of 1990. However, Orion Pictures decided to hold the release until January 1991 to avoid competing with another of its hits, 'Dances with Wolves', which was also performing very successfully in the Oscar race.
- While preparing for his role, Anthony Hopkins carefully studied the files of the most famous modern serial killers. He also visited the prisons where these individuals were held and even attended a couple of high-profile court trials.
- While studying video footage, Anthony noticed that the maniac Charles Manson never blinked during conversation, and he immediately incorporated this observation into his performance on screen.
- Anthony Hopkins had only 24 minutes and 52 seconds of screen time, which did not stop him from winning the Academy Award for Best Actor.
- While writing the screenplay, screenwriter Ted Tally envisioned only Jodie Foster in the role of Agent Starling. However, when Jonathan Demme took the director's chair, he decided to deviate from his predecessor's choice and invited Michelle Pfeiffer to join the film.
- Michelle Pfeiffer turned down the lead role, citing that the film would be far too bloody and violent. Following this, Jonathan Demme finally decided to call upon Jodie Foster for the project and, as it turned out, he made the right choice.
- The main motif of the plot drew parallels to real-life events, specifically the relationship between Robert Keppel, a professor at a university of criminology, and the serial killer Ted Bundy.
- Despite all his transgressions, Ted Bundy assisted in solving a whole series of murders. Ted was executed on January 24, 1989, but the killer responsible for those crimes was only found in 2001—12 years after Bundy's execution. That person was Gary Ridgway, who confessed to committing 48 crimes.
- During preparations for filming, Jodie Foster and Scott Glenn were provided with audio recordings made by serial killers during their murders. Jodie flatly refused to listen to these blood-curdling recordings, but Scott, to his misfortune, decided to do so, as a result of which he was haunted by nightmares for a considerable period of time.
- Brooke Smith, who played the kidnapped girl Catherine, and Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill, became very close during the filming of the movie.
- The maniac known as Buffalo Bill became a sort of composite image of three real-life serial killers. So, meet these creepy individuals, each of whom had at least fifty victims: Ed Gein, who loved to skin his victims; the handsome Ted Bundy, who used a fake plaster cast on his arm to lure naive women; and Gary Heidnik, who liked to keep his victims in a deep pit, where they typically died of starvation.
- The man in the blue cap in the film's final scene on a tropical island is director Jonathan Demme, who made a brief cameo appearance in his own movie.
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