“Do you spook easily,
Starling?”
This month marks the 25th anniversary of Jonathan
Demme’s THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
A mash-up of a chilling horror tale with a police
procedural, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS was based on Thomas Harris’ novel of the
same name, and was the second film to feature the character Hannibal Lecter,
with the first being MANHUNTER (1986). With MANHUNTER a financial failure at
the box office, enthusiasm to bring another Harris novel to the big screen was
met with resistance. The project floated around Hollywood for nearly three
years with actor Gene Hackman looking to direct and star as Hannibal Lecter.
By late 1987, Hackman would depart the project, and when the
rights went to Orion Pictures, a screenwriter by the name of Ted Tally would
come on board. Young director Jonathan Demme agreed to direct after reading the
novel and before the script was completed.
The story, in which a young FBI trainee named Clarice
Starling seeks the advice of an imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter to catch a
serial killer, required acting of the best caliber. Actress Jodie Foster was
interested in playing the role of Agent Clarice Starling immediately after
reading the book, and was hired despite Demme looking to cast Michelle
Pfeiffer. For the role of Hannibal Lecter, Demme originally wanted Sean
Connery, who turned it down. Daniel Day-Lewis was also considered. The role
would eventually go to Anthony Hopkins, who was offered the part based on his
performance in THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980). Also signing on was Scott Glenn and Ted
Levine.
Filming would take place in Pennsylvania over a period of
five months. Howard Shore provided the score. Upon released, the film was a
quiet hit which flew under the radar for most of the year, but did well at the
box office and gained critical acclaim.
The rewards would come over a year after release at the 64th
Academy Awards. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS would become only the third film to
win Oscars in all top five categories; Best Actor (Hopkins), Best Actress
(Foster), Best Director (Demme), Best Screenplay (Tally), and most importantly…Best
Picture. It was the first, and to this day, the only film widely considered to
be a horror film to be nominated for Best Picture, after THE EXORCIST (1973),
and JAWS (1975).
Its legacy would go on past the Oscars. THE SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS appears on several Top lists by the American Film Institute, including
100 Years, 100 Movies (#65), 100 Thrills (#5), and Villains (#1). In 2011, the
film was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry by the U.S.
Library of Congress.
*
This Blogger enjoys looking at a film through the eyes of
his friends. It is a useful method which can offer new perspective and new
light on a movie. This Blogger has one friend who is scared silly over the
film, while another friend, who happens to be a young female FBI agent, loves
to be called Clarice; that speaks to the range that the movie reaches. This
Blogger also has an appreciation for films which can handle the burden of
carrying two different genres, and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS strikes the perfect
balance between a cops-and-robbers flick and straight-up horror; especially
horror since the idea of serial killers in our own backyards is much more
believable than ghosts and goblins. But perhaps the true legacy of the film comes from the quiet yet epic showdowns between Clarice and Hannibal; a war of carefully-chosen words in which each combatant tries to get under the opponents' skin and inside their heads. In doing so, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS gets under our skin and inside our heads. In an age of filmmaking where showdowns between characters are done over and over, the industry can learn a lot from revisiting the battles between a Starling and a madman.
“Have the lambs
stopped screaming?”
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