‘The Silence of the Lambs’ that never was: Missing flashbacks, dropped storylines, and Gene Hackman as Hannibal Lecter

Published by Gold Derby on Apr 24, 2026 8:00 AM

Oscar-winning screenwriter Ted Tally shares behind the scenes stories about the 1991 classic as it returns to theaters for its 35th anniversary.

By Ethan Alter April 24, 2026 8:00 am

Across his 40-plus year career, Gene Hackman developed a menagerie of memorably malevolent villains that included Buck Barrow, Little Bill Daggett, and, of course, Lex Luthor. But the Oscar-winning actor — who died last year — nearly added another meaty bad guy role to his plate: Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.

Back in 1987, Hackman was the first to recognize the cinematic potential in Thomas Harris’s about-to-be-published The Silence of the Lambs, the follow-up to the author’s blockbuster 1981 novel, Red Dragon, that introduced the man-eating psychiatrist. Orion acquired the movie rights to the book and The French Connection star the chance to direct and potentially star in the movie version. For screenwriting duties, the now-defunct studio turned to Ted Tally, a playwright who was making the leap to major motion pictures.

“We only met twice,” Tally tells Gold Derby now about those early conversations with Hackman. “I sort of auditioned for Gene. The first time was a general meeting, and for the second, I had to go into greater detail about how he was going to adapt the book.”

Tally describes Hackman as being “polite and cordial, but sort of distant” during those encounters, and remembers the fledgling director still undecided about whether he intended to play Hannibal or Jack Crawford, the FBI agent who enlists young trainee Clarice Starling to seek advice from Lecter about how to locate and capture a skin-flaying serial killer named Jame Gumb, aka Buffalo Bill.

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For the record, there is one other key change to that scene that Tally — not Hopkins — can take credit for. In the book, Hannibal talks about enjoying a “big Amarone” alongside his dinner of census taker liver and fava beans. “When I read that, I thought, ‘What is an Amarone and how is it big?’” Tally confesses with a laugh about Harris’s choice of wine selection.

“And then I thought, ‘If I’m confused by that, I don’t want the audience getting hung up on it.’” So Tally swapped out a “big Amarone” for a “nice Chianti” and a million bad Hannibal Lecter impressions were born.

“I figured Tony would have fun with that line,” Tally says mischievously.

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And as part of his Red Dragon experience, Tally finally got to write a series of flashbacks that actually made the final cut. “The producer, Dino DeLaurentiis, wanted to have a glimpse of Lecter before he was captured,” the writer recalls. “So I was able to have some fun with that.”

You might say the sky wasn’t the limit in that case.