During the filming of the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster maintained a deliberate distance from one another, mirroring the tense relationship of their characters. The two actors, who portrayed the infamous Hannibal Lecter and FBI trainee Clarice Starling, experienced a genuine sense of unease while filming, according to Hopkins’s memoir and Foster’s later comments. Their tense dynamic was shaped by the chilling script and the film’s unique directing choices.
Hopkins’s Quick Embrace of Hannibal Lecter
In his memoir We Did OK, Kid: A Memoir, Anthony Hopkins revealed how instantly he grasped the character of Hannibal Lecter, describing an innate understanding of the villain’s sinister nature. He wrote,
“I knew the character instantly. I instinctively sensed how to play Hannibal,”
Anthony Hopkins explained.
“I have the devil in me. We all have the devil in us. I know what scares people.”
This intimate connection to Lecter’s dark psychology influenced Hopkins’s approach from the very first table read, where he immediately began portraying Lecter’s menacing persona without any prior interaction with Foster.
Early Interactions Marked by Fear and Distance
Hopkins wanted to impress with a frightening performance during rehearsals. He recalled,
“We just flew right into it,”
highlighting the intensity of the moment.
“I wanted to show what I could do, so I was as scary as I could be. You could have heard a pin drop in the room. A couple of seconds after I started to speak as Lecter, I saw Jodie grow tense.”
This immediate tension set the tone for their off-screen relationship. Hopkins noted that he and Foster largely avoided spending time together while filming. He remembered their last day, saying,
“[Foster and I] mostly kept away from each other,”
and that during lunch, Foster confessed,
she’d been scared of me.
Hopkins admitted feeling the same fear toward Foster, and they ended their time on set sharing a laugh and a warm hug. He recounted,
“We had a big hug, and we both admitted to feeling a strange sense of distance during the shoot, due no doubt to the power of that script, which had us playing a cat-and-mouse game,”
before adding,
“Since then, we’ve always greeted each other with great warmth.”
The Story Behind the Film’s Chilling Atmosphere
The Silence of the Lambs follows Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist turned incarcerated cannibal, as he interacts with FBI trainee Clarice Starling. In search of insights into another serial killer, Clarice ventures into Lecter’s high-security cell, setting off a psychological game. The intense screenplay, adapted from Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel, demanded a performance that blurred the lines between acting and reality for the cast.
Jodie Foster’s Perspective on Their On-Screen Distance
Jodie Foster has spoken openly about the fear she experienced during filming, particularly caused by Hopkins’s portrayal. During a 2019 Masterclass event at SXSW, she explained how director Jonathan Demme’s techniques amplified the actors’ mutual unease. Foster said,
“The movie didn’t scare me, but Anthony Hopkins scared me,”
noting the unusual filming arrangement where actors looked directly into the camera lens rather than at each other. She explained,
“You’ll notice, if you look at the movie again…instead of the person looking at the person off-screen, that the actors are actually looking down the lens. And that means I am there, but way behind the camera, and I’m just a voice; he can’t see me. And the same is true on my side.”
This setup created a disembodied experience for Foster, making Hopkins’s character feel like a voice rather than a visible person. She described,
“So when I’m doing scenes with Dr. Lecter, I just hear this disembodied, scary voice, but I don’t actually see his face. I have to look into the camera and pretend that he’s in the camera.”
Moreover, the set design physically separated them, with Hopkins needing 20 minutes each time to be fitted behind the glass and bars safeguarding Clarice from Hannibal’s reach.
The Lasting Impact of Their On-Screen Chemistry and Separation
The palpable tension between Hopkins and Foster translated into a landmark film that continues to captivate audiences. The Silence of the Lambs earned over $270 million globally and became the only horror film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also received accolades for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Hopkins, and Best Actress for Foster. The actors’ intense but distant collaboration helped create a chilling atmosphere that remains iconic in film history, demonstrating how deeply their experiences during filming shaped their performances and the movie’s lasting legacy.
