The film industry is full of stories of regret. Bad decisions on every corner of Hollywood Boulevard. Risks not taken, projects not realized and unaccepted roles for example. Will Smith, who almost took part in one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time, can sing a serenade about it.
Superstar Michelle Pfeiffer, on the other hand, would have played alongside Catwoman another iconic role in her filmography, which even earned her replacement an Oscar.
Michelle Pfeiffer could have starred in the thriller masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs – instead she left the role to Jodie Foster
With The Silence of the Lambs, director Jonathan Demme adapted the novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. The galactically well-acted result is not only one of the best thrillers of all time, but above all a highlight in the careers of Anthony Hopkins aka cannibal Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster aka greenhorn investigator Clarice StarlingOscars were awarded to both stars as well as to the director, the best adapted screenplay and the best film.
MGM
The silence of the Lambs
Speaking to the New Yorker in 2021, Michelle Pfeiffer recalled why she turned down the Clarice role in the early 90swhich our sister site Filmstarts also recently picked up on:
During The Silence of the Lambs I was scared. There was so much evil in the movie. […] It was the fact that evil won in the end, that evil triumphs at the end of the film. I was not comfortable with the ending. I did not want to put that out into the world.
Spoilers for the end of The Silence of the Lambs: Of course, Clarice kills the serial killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) at the end of the film. What Pfeiffer probably means is Hannibal Lecter’s successful escape from his court-ordered imprisonment. Hopefully she has never seen the TV series Hannibal, in which things are sometimes much nastier!
20th Century Fox
Michelle Pfeiffer in In the Shadow of Truth
What the actress really regrets, however, is not the Oscar she missed, but the fact that not to have worked with director Jonathan Demme againfor which she was in front of the camera as part of The Mafiosi Bride. The filmmaker died in 2017. Pfeiffer remembers him fondly:
It’s so sad for me that he’s no longer with us. First of all, he was just the nicest person. He was so funny and at the same time so easy to make you laugh, so we just laughed all the time.
Michelle Pfeiffer never won an Oscar. But she was nominated three times: for Love Field, The Fabulous Baker Boys and Dangerous Liaisons.
Where can you stream The Silence of the Lambs?
The thriller masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs is streaming on MGM+ and MagentaTV as a flat rate. It is also available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple TV, and others.