Cinemark's Love You to Death series of films for February was kicked off, quite appropriately, with "The Silence of the Lambs."
Released on February 14, 1991, it grossed $272 million worldwide on a budget of $19 million earning five Academy Awards the following year in a rare Oscar sweep of the top five categories: Best Picture, Best Director (Jonathan Demme), Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster) and Best Screenplay (Ted Tally). Historically, only a few other movies have swept the Oscars, they include classics like It Happened One Night (1934) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975).
Thirty-four years later, The Silence of the Lambs remains one of the most powerful suspense thrillers ever made. Artistically, it breaks new ground with its abundance of extreme close-ups of the main characters staring directly into the camera (as Anthony Hopkins does throughout the movie) or just slightly off-axis as Jodie Foster’s character does. It’s frighteningly intense.
Hopkins takes it to another level by eliminating blinking from Hannibal Lecter’s icy, unnerving stare. It’s a terrifying performance for the ages.
The Silence of the Lambs is a genre-defining film that is difficult, if not impossible to top. It deserved all five of its Oscar statuettes. Truthfully, it probably deserved a few technical awards for the cinematography, editing, art direction and sound editing.
Much of the film was shot in and around Pittsburgh, PA using identifiable locations and local talent and crew. I was among the people hired to be an extra. In my case, I was selected to portray a TV news videographer in a night scene shot in front of what Pittsburghers would recognize as Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland.
It’s a short, nighttime scene in which the detestable Dr. Fredrick Chilton (Anthony Heald) addresses camera operators and reporters. There is a quick shot of the media people rushing forward as he begins to introduce himself. Jodie Foster’s character glares at him in the background.
The scene (directed by Jonathan Demme and shot by Tak Fujimoto) was done in about five takes. In four of them, I aggressively stepped into the shot in full view of the camera. As instructed, I was meant to be a pushy, aggressive news photographer. I shoved my way into the shot, four times. On the fifth and final take, someone momentarily stepped in front of me and, of course, that’s the one that made the final cut.
What remains for posterity, is a shot of my left hand holding my fake, plastic, Ikegami video camera prop. I have since referred to my brief cameo as “My Left Hand” in reference to the film title My Left Foot (the famous 1989 movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis). When I used to show The Silence of the Lambs in my History of American Cinema class at Point Park University, I would jokingly freeze the video on my momentary appearance and point out my “fifteen frames of fame.” It never failed to get a laugh.
It was fun being an extra. I have been an extra on a few other noteworthy movies including Danny DeVito’s Hoffa starring Jack Nicholson (1992) (where I appeared as a newspaper photographer in a scene when a car blows up), as well as Tom Savini’s 1990 remake of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (where I was cast as a “Hanging Zombie,” in full zombie makeup and tattered, shredded zombie wardrobe, encrusted in fake movie dirt).
The Silence of the Lambs was special because of the top tier talent and crew. Jodie Foster was in the background of the shot we did that night. Anthony Hopkins was wandering around off camera even though his character wasn’t in the scene. He was smiling and hanging out, and everyone there was giddy just to be in his presence.
It was a magical night, despite the hours of preparation, waiting and rehearsing.
I recall someone jokingly saying that the experience was like being in the service: “Hurry up and wait!” It’s what extras do on a movie set. You don’t do it for the money. You do it for the rush of being in a Hollywood movie and maybe even being on the big screen—even if the only thing that makes the final cut is a two-second shot of your left hand that only you will ever recognize!
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