‘Silence of the Lambs’
Buffalo Invoice Actor Ted Levine Handle Transphobia Controversy …
‘F***ing Flawed’ Portrayal
Revealed
“Silence of the Lambs” completely missed the mark when it got here to dealing with gender identification onscreen … so says one of many film’s largest stars.
Ted Levine — the actor who performed Buffalo Invoice within the hit 1991 movie — lastly addressed the controversy surrounding his character in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
If you have not seen the film, Buffalo Invoice is a serial killer who flays ladies and wears their pores and skin over his personal … which, in newer years, many have claimed makes the character an unflattering portrayal of transgender or gender nonconforming folks.
Levine informed the outlet he did not play the character as both … he all the time portrayed him as a screwed-up straight man — and, he had no qualms in regards to the character whereas taking pictures the film.
Nevertheless, Levine says now, “(It’s) simply over time and having gotten conscious and labored with trans of us, and understanding a bit extra in regards to the tradition and the fact of the which means of gender. It’s unlucky that the movie vilified that, and it’s f***ing unsuitable.”
Producer Edward Saxon echoed Levine’s sentiments … telling THR the filmmakers did not suppose they’d upset the transgender group as a result of they did not contemplate Buffalo Invoice trans.
They felt he simply was a sick particular person with an “aberrant character.” Nevertheless, Saxon admits he feels the staff wasn’t delicate sufficient to sterotypes.
He goes on, “There’s remorse, but it surely didn’t come from anyplace of malice. It really got here from a spot of seeing this man. All of us had pricey family and friends who had been homosexual. We thought it could simply be very clear that Buffalo Invoice adapts various things from society, from a spot of an extremely sick pathology.”
BTW … Saxon additionally takes goal at President Donald Trump within the interview — telling the outlet he feels the prez likening immigrants to Hannibal Lecter is “as perverse as something we had been capable of provide you with within the movie.”
Backside line … folks concerned within the movie weren’t attempting to offend anybody — however, they actually perceive why they did.