Anthony Hopkins Thought 'Silence Of The Lambs' Was This Kind of Story Instead Of A Horror

Anthony Hopkins is opening up about his first thoughts of The Silence of the Lambs, as the movie celebrates its 30th anniversary.

The now 83-year-old actor revealed during Variety’s “Actors on Actors” video series that he thought it was a children’s story at first.

The script was sent to him in 1989 when he was still performing in M. Butterfly on the London stage.

“After 10 pages, I phoned my agent. I said, ‘Is this a real offer? I want to know. This is the best part I’ve ever read,’” Anthony recalled. “I read the rest of the script, and Jonathan [Demme, director] came over on a Saturday afternoon and we had dinner. And I said, ‘Is this for real?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘OK.’”

He continued, saying that Jonathan “was such a wonderful guy to work with. I couldn’t believe my luck, and I was scared to speak to you [Jodie Foster]. I thought, ‘She just won an Oscar.’”

The film earned Jodie, as well as Anthony Oscars for their performances.

Find out what Jodie thought about working with Anthony on the set here…