clarice starling supremacy

a blog in honor of Special Agent Clarice Starling, the groundbreaking heroine of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris

[brave-clarice]

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS at 30

♡ “It was my idea to release that film on Valentine’s Day.” – Jonathan Demme ♡ “The scenes between Lecter and Clarice play...as if they were lovers.” – Ted Tally

The Silence of the Lambs débuted in cinemas on February 14, 1991. Hannibal Lecter mentions Valentine’s Day – and considers sending heroine Clarice Starling “a wonderful Valentine” – several times in the novel. (Unfortunately, these lines didn’t make it onto the big screen.) 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of this iconic film and its “perverse sort of love story” in the words of Silence writer Ted Tally, whose screenplay won an Oscar.

[downthedungeon]

[filmgifs]

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — dir. Jonathan Demme

[rcntlydcccased]

Fuck it, Clannibal doodles. 

These were originally warm up sketches that I had no intention of posting but there is a severe lack of Hannibal and Clarice content on this hellsite so I thought why the hell not, I’ll do my part. I try to draw Hannibal as a mix of book+film 

[brave-clarice]

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS at 30

♡ “It was my idea to release that film on Valentine’s Day.” – Jonathan Demme ♡ “The scenes between Lecter and Clarice play…as if they were lovers.” – Ted Tally

The Silence of the Lambs débuted in cinemas on February 14, 1991. Hannibal Lecter mentions Valentine’s Day – and considers sending heroine Clarice Starling “a wonderful Valentine” – several times in the novel. (Unfortunately, these lines didn’t make it onto the big screen.) 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of this iconic film and its “perverse sort of love story” in the words of Silence writer Ted Tally, whose screenplay won an Oscar.

[hauntedandmurdered]

Oh how I love that Tony himself is the biggest Clannibal shipper in this universe.

He's so 🤲

[brave-clarice]

ANTHONY HOPKINS and JODIE FOSTER with JONATHAN DEMME after the 64th Academy Awards ceremony in 1992. All three were awarded for their work in The Silence of the Lambs (1991): Hopkins’ performance as Hannibal Lecter and Foster’s as Clarice Starling won them both the Oscars for Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role, respectively, while Demme won Best Director. The film also recieved awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

[cocoa-night]

Birthday gifts…from a serial killer…

[brave-clarice]

“Dr. Lecter held his glass up to the candle. The candle flared behind it as the sun flared on water, and the wine itself was the color of the winter sun on Clarice Starling’s skin. Her birthday was coming soon, the doctor reflected. He wondered if there was extant a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem from her birth year. Perhaps a present was in order for Clarice Starling, who in three weeks would have lived as long as Christ.”

—

Thomas Harris, Hannibal

Clarice’s birthday is December 23rd: “I’ll be thirty-three two days before Christmas.”

(via theworthiestplace)

[brave-clarice]

THE WOMEN WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN CLARICE STARLING

When production began on The Silence of the Lambs, director Jonathan Demme had strong opinions on which actresses were well-suited to play the film’s plucky heroine, FBI trainee Clarice Starling. His first choice was Michelle Pfeiffer, with whom he had worked on Married to the Mob in 1988. He was also interested in Meg Ryan, who had most recently played three different roles in 1990’s Joe Versus the Volcano. Both Pfeiffer and Ryan were allegedly put off (perhaps even “offended”) by the script’s dark material, and each turned down the role. Demme then transferred his support to Laura Dern, whose audition he later said “was just IT.”

By this time, however, Jodie Foster was actively campaigning to play Clarice. The idea of one young woman fighting to save another in the face of glass ceilings and wicked men resonated with Foster. The studio saw her, a well-known and beloved actress who had already won an Oscar for The Accused, as a good bet. Demme liked Foster’s perspective on the story and eventually agreed to her being cast as Clarice. Her performance won her another Oscar; she has since said that Clarice is her favorite of all the roles she’s ever played. [x, x]

(All three of these actresses are between 5’7” and 5’10”, significantly taller than the petite Jodie Foster. It’s interesting to consider how the film’s now-iconic and symbolic cinematography, which emphasizes Clarice’s small stature, might have been different with a woman of above-average height in the lead!)

Michelle Pfieffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) • Laura Dern in Smooth Talk (1985) • Meg Ryan in Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)

[thewintersoldier]

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

[thelongnightfiles]

Jodie Foster, Ted Levine, and Brook Smith on set of "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) in 1990

[brave-clarice]

broke: hannibal lecter is a psycopath

bespoke: hannibal lecter is a total wife guy

[brave-clarice]

[kissthefuture]

She was fixed on the cell. Here she had had the most remarkable encounter of her life. Here she had been startled, shocked, surprised. Here she had heard things about herself so terribly true her heart resounded like a great deep bell. She wanted to go inside. She wanted to go in, wanted it as we want to jump from balconies, as the glint of the rails tempts us when we hear the approaching train. Hannibal - Thomas Harris [Favourite book quotes]

[specialagentmapp]

I can totally sleep on the couch. That couch? Please.

[kissthefuture]

The Silence of the Lambs Original Featurette