Foster and Hopkins reminisce
Silence of the Lambs stars mark 30th anniversary
Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, who starred together in The Silence of the Lambs, reunited on Tuesday to celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of the release of their hit 1991 film.
The two Oscar winners teamed up for Variety's virtual Actors on Actors interview series and reflected on their time together on set.
“It's a life-changing adventure, that movie, for both of us,” Foster said. “I'm sure you still get people who come up to you and say, `Would you like a nice Chianti?'”
Hopkins replied, “Oh yeah, they do.”
Hopkins also opened up about the real-life inspiration behind his cannibal killer character Dr. Hannibal Lecter during the hour-long chat, saying, “He's like a machine. He's like HAL, the computer in 2001: `Good evening, Dave.' He just comes in like a silent shark.
“I remember there was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and his name was Christopher Fettes. He was a movement teacher. He had a cutting voice, and he would slice you to pieces. His analysis of what you were doing was so precise. It's a method that stayed with me for all my life.
“When I was doing it, I thought, `This is Chris Fettes. This is the voice. This man is merciless.'”
Meanwhile, Foster said she loved piecing together her character, Clarice Starling: “She had this quietness. There was almost a shame that she wasn't bigger, that she wasn't stronger, this person trying to overcome the failure of the body they were born in.
“I understood that was her strength. In some ways, she was just like the victims — another girl in another town. The fact that she could relate to those victims made her the hero.”
Foster and Hopkins both won Oscars for their roles in the movie.