Find the right actor to play the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Starling Starling, in the 1991 film, “The Silence of the Lambs” was always going to be a challenge. Directed by Jonathan Demme and based on Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name, “Le Silence des Lambes” was a disturbing story about the serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) helping the FBI chasing another serial killer on the loose called “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine). Initially, Demme approached Michelle Pfeiffer to play Clarice, because she had played in her film “married to the Mob”, but she refused it because she felt that the film was, as a whole, too “bad”.
Enter Jodie Foster, an incredible interpreter who knew something or two about to play in difficult roles, after having depicts a sexual teenager in the “taxi driver” of Martin Scorsese when she was only 12 years old. Foster could certainly manage the complexity of the role and the disturbing content, but it had a great request for a demons: the FBI had to be represented in a realistic but positive light. Foster had a fairly intense real experience with the FBI when they helped protect it from a violent harasser, and she wanted to make sure they were represented correctly.
The representation of the FBI in the silence of the lambs was important to promote
Foster had the horrible fortune to have two dangerous stalkers, both obsessed with her because of her performance in “Taxi Driver”. The first was John Hinckley Jr., who wrote frightening letters from Foster and later tried to assassinate the president of the time, Ronald Reagan, in 1981. The second was Edward Richardson, who continued Hinkley’s desires to kill Reagan. Since the FBI had helped a youngster to face these terrifying circumstances and that Demme had previously described the FBI as Oafish in “married to the Mob”, she wanted to guarantee that more care was taken. According to a 1991 feature published by Empire, Foster told Demme:
“I know that I don’t need to tell you that, but I just need to say that in any responsibility, women victims around the world, that you cannot portray the people of the FBI as clumsy republicans. If you want me to be your hero, you have to represent them correctly.”
It is honestly fairly fair, and although “the silence of the lambs” is certainly critical of the FBI, in particular with regard to the way Starling is treated as a young female agent, the organization is otherwise presented as generally heroic. Similarly, even if the film aroused the controversy for extremely valid reasons, the deeply nuanced performance of Foster are one of the strongest parts of “the silence of the lambs”. She even ended up bringing an Oscar to the best actress to the house for her work on the film, so it’s a hell of a good thing that Demme has accepted her need for the FBI not to be excessively vilified or mocked.
Foster’s real experience has probably helped its performance
As a youngster but already Steely Starling, Foster is phenomenal. She even stands for terrifying looks with Hopkins to her most horrible and the most human in “The silence of the lambs”, demonstrating impressive physical and emotional control. Her expressions are superimposed and she shows us a lot about what Clarice thinks or feels with her face and her posture. Foster spoke of the way in which the tracking down touched her and the way she felt “the spectacle must continue”, literally and metaphorically, so she continued to play and stay under the spotlight. There is definitely a link between the FBI Neustrart that she played and feeds, because the two endured a real terror and continued to continue.
What else is to say? Foster is one of the greatest actors of all time, and “The Silence of the Lamb” is one of its best windows. Hopkins may have been perfectly scary, but Foster has shown vulnerability And Force, make Clarice a feminist hero for ages … At least until the following, “Hannibal”.
