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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that writes a love letter to history. Every

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Speaker 1: day of the week. I'm Gay, Bluesier, and today we're

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Speaker 1: revisiting the biggest film of Valentine's Day, the beloved romantic

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Speaker 1: comedy The Silence of the Lambs. Wait What the Day was?

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Speaker 1: February psychological horror classic The Silence of the Lambs made

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Speaker 1: its theatrical debut. It was built in advertising as quote

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Speaker 1: the perfect Valentine's Day date movie, scary enough to put

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Speaker 1: your sweetie into cuddling. Movie going couples seem to have agreed,

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Speaker 1: as The Silence of the Lambs, which opened on a Thursday,

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Speaker 1: went on to earn eleven point six million dollars by

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Speaker 1: the end of the weekend. The film had staying power too.

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Speaker 1: It ran for eight months in theaters and netted more

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Speaker 1: than a hundred and thirty million dollars in the US

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Speaker 1: and Canada and two hundred and seventy five million dollars worldwide.

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Speaker 1: That made it the fourth highest grossing film of nineteen

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Speaker 1: both domestically and globally, and since the movie was made

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Speaker 1: on a budget, of just nineteen million dollars. That was

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Speaker 1: a huge win for the studio, for the cast and crew,

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Speaker 1: and for the horror genre as a whole. The film

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Speaker 1: was adapted by screenwriter Ted Tally from the Night Thomas

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Speaker 1: Harris novel of the same name. It follows a young

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Speaker 1: FBI trainee named Clarice Starling played by Jodie Foster as

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Speaker 1: she investigates the case of a serial killer known as

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill, portrayed by Ted Levine. To help track down Bill,

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Speaker 1: Clarisse consults with another serial killer, this one an imprisoned

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Speaker 1: psychiatrist slash cannibal doctor Hannibal Lecter a k a. Anthony

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Speaker 1: Hopkins in one of his defining roles. The Silence of

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Speaker 1: the Lambs wasn't the first novel or film to feature

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Speaker 1: the character of Hannibal Lecter. It was actually the second.

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Speaker 1: In both cases, Thomas Harris introduced the character in a

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one book titled Red Dragon, which was adapted

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Speaker 1: into the movie Man Hunter in nineteen eighty six, although

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Speaker 1: the role of Hannibal in that film was played by

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Speaker 1: Brian Cox, not Anthony Hopkins. In total, Harris wrote four

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Speaker 1: novels that included the famous Cannibal Psychiatrist, and all four

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Speaker 1: of them have been adapted for film or TV at

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Speaker 1: least once, sometimes with Hopkins even reprising the role, but

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Speaker 1: most people agree that film is the high point of

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Speaker 1: the series. Hopkins intense portrayal of a calm cultured killer

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Speaker 1: and Foster's quiet, astute performance as an FBI agent and

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Speaker 1: training are both hard to top. These and other elements

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Speaker 1: of the movie struck a chord with the public, and

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Speaker 1: audiences and filmmakers alike are still influenced by them today.

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Speaker 1: That makes it especially fun to look back at just

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Speaker 1: how different the movie almost was. For example, did you

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Speaker 1: know Gene Hackman was initially set to direct and star

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Speaker 1: as Hannibal. He even split the cost of the movie

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Speaker 1: rights to the book with the film's distributor, Orian Pictures.

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Speaker 1: In the end, though, Hackman got cold feet about playing

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Speaker 1: such a dark role and he dropped out of the

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Speaker 1: project altogether. When Jonathan Demi signed on as director, his

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Speaker 1: first choice to play Hannibal was Sean Connery. However, the

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Speaker 1: Scottish actor took a pass after reading the script, which

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Speaker 1: he succinctly described as quote revolting. Daniel day Lewis and

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Speaker 1: Derek Jacoby were also considered, but at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, it had to be Hopkins. He also had

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Speaker 1: a memorable reaction to the script, which he described in

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Speaker 1: a interview for Variety. Hopkins revealed quote, when I was

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Speaker 1: in London in nine eight nine, I was doing a

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Speaker 1: play called m Butterfly. My agent sent a script and said,

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Speaker 1: I want you to read this script. It's called Silence

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Speaker 1: of the Lambs. I said, was it a children's story?

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Speaker 1: He said no. Once Hopkins understood that it was not,

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Speaker 1: in fact a movie about shy baby lambs, he decided

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Speaker 1: to stretch himself as an actor and take on the

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Speaker 1: role anyway, dark as it may be. He famously based

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Speaker 1: his characters voice and mannerisms on a combination of three

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Speaker 1: other stars of the Silver screen, the actress Katherine Hepburn,

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Speaker 1: the screenwriter and actor Truman Capodi, and Hal nine thousand,

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Speaker 1: the creepy, dead pan computer from Stanley Kubrick's two thousand one,

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Speaker 1: A Space Odyssey. Hopkins also contributed to his character's wardrobe,

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Speaker 1: suggesting that Hannibal should wear white to play into the

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Speaker 1: public's discomfort around doctors and dentists, who often wear white

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Speaker 1: on the job. As for the film's other lead, Jodie Foster.

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Speaker 1: She wanted to be involved with the film from the

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Speaker 1: very outset. In fact, she tried to buy the film

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Speaker 1: rights to the novel herself, but Gene Hackman got there first.

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Speaker 1: She later settled for the role of agents Starling, but

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Speaker 1: just like with Hopkins, Foster wasn't the director's first choice

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Speaker 1: for Clarice. Instead, Demi wanted to cast Michelle Pheiffer, whom

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Speaker 1: he had worked with on the nine eight comedy Married

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Speaker 1: to the Mob. However, just like many other actors who

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Speaker 1: had been tapped for this film, Pheiffer decided to pass

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Speaker 1: due to concern is about the darkness of the subject matter.

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Speaker 1: Despite all the behind the scenes uncertainty, the Silence of

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Speaker 1: the Lambs wound up with exactly the right cast and

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Speaker 1: director needed to tell its story effectively, or at least

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Speaker 1: Academy voters seemed to think so. In two the film

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Speaker 1: cleaned up at the Oscars, winning all five major awards

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Speaker 1: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, and

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Speaker 1: Best Actress. It was only the third film in history

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Speaker 1: to win in all five of those categories. The first

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Speaker 1: movie to do so was Screwball romantic comedy. It Happened

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Speaker 1: One Night in ninety five, and the second was the

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Speaker 1: mental war drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six. Strangely enough, when looked at a certain way,

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Speaker 1: the Silence of the Lambs actually combines aspects of both

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Speaker 1: of those movies, albeit with significantly more cannibalism. Of course,

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Speaker 1: none of that success means the Silence of the Lambs

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Speaker 1: is above criticism in the past or today. Movie critic

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Speaker 1: Gene Siskel infamously referred to the movie as a quote

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Speaker 1: star studded freak show and a case of much ado

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Speaker 1: about nothing. Most other critics of the time, including his

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Speaker 1: partner Roger Ebert, disagreed, but in the years since, many

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Speaker 1: people have also taken issue with Ted Levine's performance as

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Speaker 1: the cross dressing serial killer Jane Gum a k a.

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill. It's viewed as a negative stereotype of people

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Speaker 1: in the LGBTQ community. Thomas Harris based the character of

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill on three real life serial killers, Ted Bundy,

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Speaker 1: Gary Heidnik, and Ed Geen. In both the novel and

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Speaker 1: the film, it's mentioned that Bill isn't actually a transgender person,

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Speaker 1: as Hannibal explains hates his own identity is Ze and

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Speaker 1: he thinks that makes m a transsexual, but his spatality

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Speaker 1: is a fast times, more savage, more terrified. The filmmakers

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Speaker 1: don't seem to have intended to disparage anyone, but the

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Speaker 1: Buffalo Bill character proved harmful just the same. With so

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Speaker 1: few portrayals of transgender people in film, especially in the

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Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties, having one of the few be a

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Speaker 1: brutal murderer was a bad call. It definitely hurt public

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Speaker 1: perception of real life individuals and is an unfortunate blunder

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Speaker 1: and an otherwise exceptional film. But how exactly did a

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Speaker 1: controversial horror movie wind up releasing on one of the

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Speaker 1: most romantic dates on the calendar. Well, it actually wasn't

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Speaker 1: the first time that happened. Thirty ones Dracula was also

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Speaker 1: released as a Valentine's Date movie. Still, it doesn't seem

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Speaker 1: like that would be your first choice for a horror

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Speaker 1: movie release date, and in the case of the Silence

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Speaker 1: of the Lambs, it wasn't. The movie was actually ready

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Speaker 1: for release in nineteen ninety, but Orion Pictures held it

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Speaker 1: until mid February the next year, so that another one

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Speaker 1: of its films, Dances with Wolves, would have less competition

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Speaker 1: for the nineteen ninety one awards season. That move worked well,

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Speaker 1: and both films wound up winning numerous awards. When Demi

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Speaker 1: heard the release strategy for Silence of the Lambs, he

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Speaker 1: didn't object because he genuinely thought it would make a

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Speaker 1: great date movie. It's a love story, he told reporters

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Speaker 1: in the lead up to the film's release, and given

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Speaker 1: his previous work, it makes sense the director would see

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Speaker 1: it like that. He had made a name for himself

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Speaker 1: with films about mismatched lovers like those in Something Wild

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Speaker 1: and Married to the Mob. The Silence of the Lambs

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Speaker 1: was certainly a change of pace for Demi, but it

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Speaker 1: also shared the themes of strange attraction and fierce intimacy

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Speaker 1: that cropped up in his earlier work. If you've never

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Speaker 1: seen the Silence of the lam Hims, or if it's

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Speaker 1: been a while, it might be difficult to think of

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Speaker 1: Hannibal and Clarisse in that kind of light, but most

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Speaker 1: of their encounters can actually be read as subversions of

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Speaker 1: classic rom com tropes. For example, consider the first time

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Speaker 1: Clarisse goes to visit Hannibal in his cell. She's expecting

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Speaker 1: to face a vicious monster, and to get to him

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Speaker 1: she has to walk through a gauntlet of other inmates,

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Speaker 1: all of whom ogle her and rush the bars to

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Speaker 1: try and touch her. When she finally reaches the cell

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Speaker 1: of Hannibal Lecter, she finds something altogether different and unexpected.

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Speaker 1: A calm, docile, well kimmed man standing quietly in the

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Speaker 1: middle of his room as the other inmates cat calls

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Speaker 1: echo in the distance. The gentleman in front of Clarisse

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Speaker 1: respectfully bids her good morning. If that's not a classic

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Speaker 1: meat cute, I don't know what is. Hopkins appears on

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Speaker 1: screen for just sixteen minutes of the film's nearly two

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Speaker 1: hour run time, but because of the obvious chemistry between

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Speaker 1: his and Foster's characters, their tents encounters are the backbone

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Speaker 1: of the movie. It helps that most of the other

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Speaker 1: men in Clarisse's life, except for Barney the Orderly, are

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Speaker 1: somehow more unpleasant and predatory than doctor Lector, who you'll

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Speaker 1: recall is a cannibal. Her boss, Jack Crawford, uses her

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Speaker 1: as bait to get Hannibal to help with the investigation

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Speaker 1: the head of the mental asylum, doctor Chilton, sexually propositions

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Speaker 1: Clarice during a meeting, and of course, the killer that

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Speaker 1: she's hunting down is a man who prays exclusively on

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Speaker 1: vulnerable women. It's no exaggeration to say that the man

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Speaker 1: in the movie who treats Clarice with the most respect

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Speaker 1: and civility, the one who most understands and appreciates her complexities,

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Speaker 1: is Hannibal lector poor Clarice. The Silence of the Lambs

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Speaker 1: plays with romantic conventions, but any seduction done by one

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Speaker 1: party or the other is strictly intellectual. Demi was wise

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Speaker 1: enough to not push the idea too far, knowing that

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Speaker 1: Clarice in Hannibal work as a kind of movie couple

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Speaker 1: because they're twisted. Courtship is only ever in theory, a

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Speaker 1: real relationship is never presented as even a possibility, and

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Speaker 1: it's clear the characters will never end up together, or

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Speaker 1: at least not in the movies. The books, on the

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Speaker 1: other hand, well, that's a disturbing story for another day.

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Speaker 1: Happy Valentine's everybody, I'm gave Lucier and hopefully you now

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Speaker 1: know a little more about movie history today than you did. Yesterday.

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Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I HC Show,

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Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, you can

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Speaker 1: always send them my way at this day at I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. I'd love to know your playing

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Speaker 1: for Valentine's Day dinner, including whether fava beans and a

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Speaker 1: nice Chianti are on the menu. Yeah, go ahead and

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Speaker 1: roll your eyes, I can't see you. Thanks to Chandler

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Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day

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Speaker 1: in History class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows