“You’re not making this movie”: when Gene Hackman was asked not to play Hannibal Lecter
Actors often rely on instinct to guide them when deciding on their next role, and if that’s not the case, then money is always a pretty good motivator. However, when Gene Hackman was circling a part that ended up winning an Academy Award and becoming instantly iconic, his family put their foot down and urged him not to do it.
After finalising his divorce from his first wife in 1986, Hackman was in a bit of a rough patch, personally and professionally. He always treated his craft with the utmost seriousness and respect, but prestige pictures didn’t pay the bills when he had alimony payments and his children’s futures to think about.
That led him down a path where he took more money gigs than ever before, and while some of them turned out to be among his most memorable performances, he always struggled to reconcile the acclaim with the fact he knew the only reason he did them in the first place was to enhance his bank balance.
The two-time Oscar winner almost missed out on that second win when he initially turned down Clint Eastwood’s offer to star in Unforgiven because he didn’t want his kids to see him starring in violent films. Hackman could have ended up with three wins, though, only for his sprogs to swear him off a part that would have taken him down a dark path.
At one stage in its development, Hackman owned the rights and was set to produce, direct, and star in The Silence of the Lambs as Hannibal Lecter. If he didn’t want to make gruesome flicks for the sake of his children, and they were equally aghast at the prospect of watching their old man wreak havoc onscreen, then a cannibalistic psychiatrist and mass murderer wasn’t the ideal fit to give everyone what they wanted.
Screenwriter Ted Tally, who won ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ as part of the psychological thriller’s ‘Big Five’ sweep, was originally hired by Hackman after he “gave me his approval, finally, after a lot of discussion.” Robert Bookman, the literary agent who brokered author Thomas Harris’ book deals, was under the impression The French Connection star was locked in until he got a phone call informing him otherwise.
“I get a call saying, ‘You won’t believe this. Gene Hackman’s daughter read the book. And she called her father and said, ‘Daddy, you’re not making this movie,'” he told Deadline. “So, Gene called Arthur [Krim, chairman of Orion Pictures] and told him what happened. Arthur said, ‘Don’t worry, Gene, I’ll buy out your half’. That’s how Orion got the rights.”
With Hackman out of the picture at his family’s request, Robert De Niro also declining an offer, and Sean Connery not even considering it, The Silence of the Lambs ended up with Jonathan Demme and Anthony Hopkins instead. They were nowhere near the first choices as director and star, respectively, but it’s impossible to imagine it without them.
