On Valentine's Day in 1991, a new film opened that ruined quite a few romantic evenings. Silence of the Lambs had been marketed with few clues as to its content, and became a monster hit. Thirty-five years later, it is mainly remembered for the character of Hannibal Lecter. People forget that he wasn't the villain in the movie. They forget how little screen time he had. And many never even knew that it wasn't the first time Lecter was in a movie. Anthony Hopkins portrayal of the cannibal killer stayed with audiences forever.
In an excerpt from a new book about Hannibal Lecter, we learn that Thomas Harris, who created Hannibal Lecter as the author of the novel, couldn't watch the movie, or even get through the trailer. Silence of the Lambs made Anthony Hopkins a sex symbol decades after he began film work. Audiences were glad that Lecter not only survived the movie, but gained his freedom. Read how Silence of the Lambs took audiences by surprise and made Hannibal Lecter an antihero. -via Metafilter
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