1. A quick thread on “Silence of the Lambs” — which had its NY premiere on this date in 1991.

One of the great character entrances of all time, except .. Lecter doesn’t “enter”. The camera/viewer does.

(via @TicoRomao)

2. “I was was madly in love with close-ups because I’m madly in love with actors,” said director Jonathan Demme. “And a basic premise of ‘Silence of the Lambs’ is the story about 2 people, fighting their way into each other’s heads. We just went for it.”

3. There’s even an entire video essay about the “Demme close-up.”

4. The project was originally developed for Gene Hackman to direct, but Demme stepped in when Hackman reportedly found the final script too violent.

5. Here’s Hopkins, trying on masks.

6. Demme feeding Hopkins. Guy’s gotta eat.

7. “Silence” remains one of only a handful of films to win all five major Oscars:

Best picture
Best actor
Best actress
Best director
Best screenplay

8. Finally, my favorite clip on this: a chat between @AnthonyHopkins and Jodie Foster — in which they discuss scenes, images, character elements that made the film ‘click’ for them.

(( END ))