Hollywood Actor Apologizes For Iconic 1990’s Role In Case It Offends Modern Audiences
More than three decades after The Silence of the Lambs became a cultural landmark, actor Ted Levine is revisiting one of cinema’s most infamous villains with a markedly different perspective.
In an interview published Saturday by The Hollywood Reporter, Levine reflected on his portrayal of Buffalo Bill, the serial killer whose crimes drive much of the film’s tension. The 1991 thriller, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, won five Academy Awards and remains widely regarded as one of the most influential films of its era. But Levine now says certain elements of the script have not aged well.
“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” Levine said. “We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
Buffalo Bill, whose real name in the film is Jame Gumb, murders women and removes their skin in a disturbed effort to fashion what he calls a “woman suit.” The character wears women’s clothing and makeup and expresses a desire to transform himself physically. Although the film does not explicitly identify him as transgender, critics over the years have argued that the character contributed to harmful stereotypes linking gender nonconformity with violence.
Levine addressed that tension directly, saying that after working with transgender individuals and learning more about gender identity, he has reconsidered the broader cultural impact of the role. “It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s… wrong,” he said, emphasizing that his portrayal was never intended to depict a transgender person. “I didn’t play him as being gay or trans. I think he was just a… heterosexual man. That’s what I was doing.”
Director Jonathan Demme made a similar argument years earlier. In a 2014 interview, Demme rejected the notion that Buffalo Bill was meant to represent a transgender individual. He described the character’s desire to become a woman as an expression of deep self-loathing rather than gender identity. According to Demme, the transformation was intended as an escape from the character’s own psychological torment, not as a portrayal of someone experiencing gender dysphoria.
Despite those clarifications, the film has long been part of broader cultural debates about representation in Hollywood. Advocacy groups have pointed to Buffalo Bill as an example of how media depictions can blur distinctions between mental illness, criminal pathology, and gender identity—sometimes reinforcing stigmas.
Levine’s comments reflect how those conversations have evolved since the early 1990s. At the time of the film’s release, public discourse around transgender identity was far less prominent, and mainstream understanding of gender diversity was limited compared to today.
The Silence of the Lambs continues to be referenced in political and cultural commentary, including by President Donald Trump, who has occasionally invoked the character Hannibal Lecter in speeches. Yet even as the film maintains its iconic status, its legacy—like many cultural touchstones of its era—is being reassessed through a modern lens.