Silence of the Lambs- Behind the scenes

I love those shows on E and others that show the behind the scenes on big movies and tv shows.  I saw a show on one of my favorite old films Silence of the Lambs.  It's hard to picture anyone else playing Hannibal Lecter other than Anthony Hopkins or someone else playing Clarice Starling than Jodie Foster.

The first person to buy the rights to the Thomas Harris book of the same name was Gene Hackman.  He turned it into a movie with intent of playing Hannibal himself.  Deep into casting Hackman's daughter talked him out of the part saying it would be too dark for him and hurt his career.  Some of the actors that were offered the part and turned it down were Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Patrick Stewart (bald guy from X-Men movies) and even Louis Gossett Jr.  No one wanted to play the evil Lecter.

The director saw Anthony Hopkins in the Elephant Man nine years before and wanted him to play the part.  The problem was he had several big flops in between and had given up on acting in the US (doing plays in London).  The producers wanted Jodie Foster for Clarice but the director didn't think she could handle it.  He instead wanted Michelle Pfeiffer and then Meg Ryan for the part.  Needing to get the production started they compromised with Hopkins and Foster.

Interesting...