64th Academy Awards · 1992
The Silence of the Lambs
Directed byCooked up by Jonathan Demme
“To enter the mind of a killer she must challenge the mind of a madman.”
“Bestie, that guy is NOT giving trustworthy. 😬”
The storyThe lore 📖
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.
Clarice Starling is an FBI trainee who is not here to be an NPC. To catch a dangerous criminal, she has to ask for help from Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a super smart but EXTREMELY creepy genius locked in a high-security prison. Their conversations are very, very scary, but Clarice stays brave and uses her brain to crack the case. Big sus energy from Lecter. 😬🦋
What critics & audiences sayThe receipts 🧾
Tomatometer
95%
Fresh
#26 of 98 winnersFamous linesLines living rent free
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
I do wish we could chat longer, but … I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye.
It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?
Quid pro quo. I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though, about yourself.
You fly back to school now, little Starling. Fly, fly, fly. Fly, fly, fly.
Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.
Put the fucking lotion in the basket!
First principles, Clarice: simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius: "Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?
Clarice Starling: Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims.
Hannibal Lecter: I didn't.
Clarice Starling: No. No, you ate yours.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Filming locationsWhere they shot it 📍
-
Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania
Filming took place primarily in and around Pittsburgh between November 1989 and March 1990.
-
Perryopolis
Pennsylvania
A Victorian house here served as Buffalo Bill's home, and it later sold for $195,000.
-
Western Center
near Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
Its exterior played the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Lecter is held.
-
FBI Academy
Quantico, Virginia
In a rare act of cooperation, the FBI allowed filming here, and some staff even played bit parts.
-
Secretary of Labor's office
Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Dole's office as U.S. Secretary of Labor stood in for the FBI Director's office.
Fun factsFacts that go hard 🤓
- When his agent said a script called The Silence of the Lambs was on its way, Anthony Hopkins asked, "Is it a children's story?" After reading the first 10 pages he called back: "This is the best part I've ever read."Wikipedia · Casting
- Gene Hackman was originally set to direct and possibly star as Lecter or Crawford, but withdrew because his children wanted him to stop making violent films.Wikipedia · Development
- Anthony Hopkins drew on the HAL 9000 computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the vocal patterns of Truman Capote to create Hannibal Lecter.Wikipedia · Casting
- Michelle Pfeiffer was Jonathan Demme's first choice for Clarice Starling but turned it down, saying she "got nervous about the subject matter"; Meg Ryan also passed before Jodie Foster won the role through sheer passion for it.Wikipedia · Casting
- Sean Connery turned down Hannibal Lecter before Anthony Hopkins was offered it, and Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Daniel Day-Lewis were among others considered.Wikipedia · Casting
- It is the only horror film ever to win Best Picture, and the third and most recent film to sweep the "Big Five" Oscars for Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay.Wikipedia · Lead
- Lecter's iconic mask was made by Ed Cubberly of Frenchtown, New Jersey, who had made masks for NHL goalkeepers.Wikipedia · Casting
- Because Manhunter had flopped, its producer Dino De Laurentiis lent Orion the rights to the Hannibal Lecter character for free.Wikipedia · Development
- In a rare act of cooperation at the time, the FBI allowed filming at its Quantico academy, and some FBI staff members even acted in bit parts.Wikipedia · Filming
- The AFI named Anthony Hopkins's Hannibal Lecter the number one film villain of all time, while Jodie Foster's Clarice Starling ranked sixth among film heroes.Wikipedia · Accolades