Levine played serial killer Buffalo Bill, whose characterization had been criticized as cruel to trans and gender nonconforming people
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NEED TO KNOW
- The Silence of the Lambs star Ted Levine looked back on his serial killer character Buffalo Bill
- Levine said that though he didn’t think the character was offensive at the time, he now thinks the character was ‘f—ing wrong’
- Buffalo Bill is presented as a gender non-conforming trans person, and late director Jonathan Demme agreed that he understood where LGBTQ+ critics were coming from
The Silence of the Lambs star Ted Levine is looking back at the movie and he thinks they made some mistakes.
Levine, 68, played the serial killer Buffalo Bill (a.k.a. Jame Gumb) in the movie, which was released 35 years ago, in February 1991. The film sees Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, speak to Anthony Hopkins’ Dr. Hannibal Lecter, in hopes that his insight can help her catch Buffalo Bill, who murders young women and removes their skin.
The Silence of the Lambs was a commercial and critical success and took home the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Alamy
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Levine, who reflected on his now-complicated opinions on the film and his character. Though Buffalo Bill’s sexual orientation is never stated, some have viewed the character as gender nonconforming and trans. Hannibal even tells Clarice, “Billy hates his own identity, you see, and he thinks that makes him a transsexual. But his pathology is a thousand times more savage and more terrifying.”
Levine told THR, “There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well. We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
He said he did not express any concerns while making the movie, but had learned more about the trans community in the 35 years since the horror classic was released. ““[It’s] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s f—ing wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
But of his work in the film he said, “I didn’t play him as being gay or trans. I think he was just a f—ed-up heterosexual man. That’s what I was doing.”
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Director Jonathan Demme, who died in 2017 at the age of 73, told the Huffington Post in 2014 that he “applauded” the LGBTQ+ community for criticizing The Silence of the Lambs but that Buffalo Bill wasn’t transgender. "He didn't wish to be another gender," he said. "He didn't really have a sexual preference. He loathed himself — he wanted to transform himself so that there was no sense of him in the 'new' him [and] becoming a woman…that was his method of doing it."
He added, "Now, finally — maybe this year – more and more people, me included, are starting to really wake up to the challenge [the transgender community faces] today.”
Demme’s producing partner Edward Saxon told THR that they didn’t think that the movie would cause issues for the LGBTQ+ community, saying they were “really loyal” to the original book by Thomas Harris, released in 1988.
“As we made the film, there was just no question in our minds that Buffalo Bill was a completely aberrant personality — that he wasn’t gay or trans. He was sick,” the 69-year-old said. “To that extent, we missed it. From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm.”
Back in 2024, Hopkins, 88, told PEOPLE that Hannibal Lecter was “one of the best parts I've ever read.”
He explained, “I could understand Lecter. I could understand the mystery of the man, the loner, the isolated voice in the dark, the man at the top of the stairs who's not really there.”
Read the full article here
