Why Jodie Foster Never Spoke To Anthony Hopkins While They Were Filming Silence Of The Lambs

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn; Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall; Woody Allen and Diane Keaton ... Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster? American cinema is crammed with great male/female screen partnerships, and the latter surely ranks among them despite the fact that they only appeared in one movie together, and the dynamic between their characters is somewhat darker than most others. Obviously, I'm talking about "The Silence of the Lambs" and the strange chemistry between young FBI trainee Clarice Starling and incarcerated serial killer Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. A combination of powerhouse acting and an unmistakable frisson of sexual tension that elevates the movie, although Foster claims she never actually spoke to her co-star during the shoot.

Appearing on "The Graham Norton Show" in 2016, the host asked the double Oscar-winner about a rumor that she didn't interact with Hopkins on set. She responded:

"No, never spoke to him. He was scary! Because the scenes were so long, they'd kind of lock him in at the beginning of the day, and we got to the end of the movie and we'd really never had a conversation."

Foster doesn't seem to be the kind of person who would be afraid of anyone, but perhaps her wariness about the revered Welsh actor informed her performance in the film. When I first saw it, I recall sharing Starling's trepidation as she descends into the dungeon-like basement of the psychiatric hospital to interview the former psychiatrist in the hope he can help her catch Buffalo Bill, a new serial killer on the loose. We first glimpse Lecter standing erect and still in the middle of his cell, greeting Starling with an unnervingly steady gaze. But it wasn't just Hopkins' terrifying performance that kept him and Foster from bonding.

Director Jonathan Demme made a couple of interesting choices that ensured Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins never got much chance to interact while filming "The Silence of the Lambs." Firstly, Dr. Lecter is imprisoned behind a wall of glass instead of bars. It's a smart choice, because it feels like there's nothing between him and Starling as he toys with her, creating a greater sense of threat. But it also meant they never shared the same physical space.

Second, Demme's shot choice created further distance between the actors. Throughout the film, Starling is the subject of the male gaze, from her boss Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) to Lecter himself. Demme emphasizes this point by frequently filming the actors speaking directly into the camera. Foster explained to Graham Norton that this technique meant they were rarely acting in the scene together. She also admitted that she also avoided Hopkins behind the scenes until the final day of filming:" He came up to me and I sort of had a tear in my eye, I was like 'I was really scared of you' and he said, 'I was scared of you!'"

Despite the unusual acting conditions, Foster and Hopkins created such a memorable and peculiar buddy dynamic between Starling and Lecter that always draws me back for another viewing. The lack of interaction also didn't stop them from turning in career-defining roles that earned them both Oscars in the lead acting categories as Demme's film made history by becoming the first horror to win Best Picture. Not only that, "The Silence of the Lambs"  joined "It Happened One Night" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" as an incredibly rare winner of the "Big Five" Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actor, and Screenplay.