Although it might not seem like the perfect date movie, The Silence of the Lambs was released on Valentines Day in 1991. But when you think about it, doesn’t watching it make you want to hold someone close? Like holding on for dear life, that is. But there’s a more complicated reason it was released in February -to distance the movie from competing with Dances With Wolves in Academy Award competition. There may be a few other things you didn’t know about The Silence of the Lambs, like:
3. THE RIGHTS TO HANNIBAL LECTER WERE GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE.
The 1986 movie Manhunter was based on Thomas Harris’ 1981 novel Red Dragon, the first of four books featuring the most infamous psychiatrist/cannibal in the world. Manhunter barely made half of its budget back at the box office, so producer Dino De Laurentiis gave away the rights he had for Lecter to the Lambs producers gratis. Lecter’s second movie ended up making $272.7 million, about $264 million more than his first.
4. GENE HACKMAN WAS INITIALLY GOING TO STAR AND DIRECT.
Hackman and Orion Pictures split the $500,000 needed for the movie rights to the book. But Hackman dropped out days after he watched clips of himself at the 1989 Oscars as FBI Agent Alan Parker in the violent Mississippi Burning, deciding not to follow up a dark role with an even more potentially hate-able character.
There were a lot more behind-the-scenes changes in the movie before filming ever began, but it all worked out to make a big hit in the end. Read the rest of the movie trivia about The Silence of the Lambs at mental_floss.