The real Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs is based on a series of real-life serial killers. While it’s Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) who is most memorable in Jonathan Demme’s 1991 masterpiece, it’s Buffalo Bill (Ted LeVine) who Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is tasked with solving the case. As a deranged serial killer who kidnaps and skins women for use, he’s among horror’s truly terrifying human villains, and he’s made even scarier by the character’s true backstory.
For a film to make a lasting impression on the world, filmmakers often take real-life inspiration for the film’s villain in order to add an element of authenticity to its horror. In The Silence of the Lambs: Magic in the Making documentary, screenwriter Ted Tally talks about some inspirations for Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill, citing Ted Bundy and Gary Heidnik as points of reference. Buffalo Bill’s technique of luring victims into a van is directly inspired by Bundy, while the idea of imprisoning women in a basement is taken from Heidnik’s crimes. By doing this, The Silence of the Lambs blurs the lines between what is real and what is fiction.
The books vs. The movies: which Buffalo Bill is scarier?
The Buffalo Bill on the page is much more disturbing
The Silence of the Lambs is adapted from the 1988 novel of the same name by author Thomas Harris. Although the plot remains relatively the same, there are some changes between the film and the novel. One of Silence of the Lambs‘ changes is the character of Buffalo Bill, who is somehow even more disturbing and horrible on the page. Much has been said about LeVine’s stellar performance, but the film suffers from having to shorten much of the character’s portrayal, simplifying the villain and preventing some important moments from appearing in the film.
Buffalo Bill’s psyche and history are dissected later in the novel, explaining that he wants to look like his dead mother. This elaborates on his motivation in a way that makes the villain more frightening, while deepening his parallels to real serial killers. Although Ted LeVine’s performance creates a viscerally unnerving Buffalo Bill due to the nature of films being a faster-paced medium – where the audience cannot decide their own pace as they can with a book – the Silence of the Lambs the series has an arguably scarier version of the character from the novel, allowing audiences a deeper look at the iconic villain.
Basing Buffalo Bill on real serial killers makes him scarier
His sinister methods are painfully true to life
The essence of any good horror film is to provide the audience with enough information for the story on screen to come to life in their minds. The Silence of the Lambs not only does it accomplish this feat with flying colors, but it also takes this device a step further by basing Buffalo Bill on a true story. While series icon Hannibal is almost a larger-than-life figure due to his dignified air being combined with his cannibalism, Buffalo Bill is the opposite. The Silence of the Lambs The villain is able to be as potent as he is precisely because he feels so close to real life and serves as a reminder that serial killers are often scarier than any conventional horror movie monster.
Whether it’s the popularization of Hannibal Lecter’s leather mask or the controversies surrounding the cinematic portrayal of Buffalo Bill, few films have the cultural impact that The Silence of the Lambs he has. One of the main feats the film accomplishes is creating an antagonist who is both suitably dramatic and frighteningly realistic. By doing this, The Silence of the Lambs balances cinematic horror with real-life serial killer inspiration, creating a film that fascinates audiences as much as it scares.
Much of Buffalo Bill’s personality was improvised
The character’s nuance came down to Ted Levine’s performance
While the real Buffalo Bill’s inspiration comes from a variety of sources, the biggest factor that makes him such an unforgettable movie villain is Ted Levine’s incredible performance. Although Anthony Hopkins deservedly receives a lot of attention for his role in Hannibal Lecter, Levine’s more reserved and unsettling performance is key to the film’s success.
Although Levine had real-life inspiration to draw from, he also created many characters on his own. As with Hopkins’ delivery of The Silence of the Lambs‘iconic”Chianti‘, Levine improvised his most famous scene, dancing naked to ‘Goodbye Horses’. In that moment, Levine explored his own understanding of Jame Gumb’s personality, which made him even more effective.
Did the real-life killers inspire other villains in the Hannibal franchise?
While Buffalo Bill and the titular cannibal himself remain the most iconic villains of the broader franchise (both on the page and screen), they are not the only antagonists to appear in the various Hannibal Lecter books, films, and TV shows. However, while many of these villains have parallels and idiosyncrasies with real-life serial killers, few seem to be as directly based on true stories as Buffalo Bill or Hannibal himself. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t links worth exploring, even if they aren’t as obvious as Buffalo Bill’s links to Ed Gein, for example.
For example, Red Dragon the villain Francis Dolarhyde was created by author Thomas Harris after reading articles about the BTK serial killer. When Red Dragon was published in 1981, the BTK killer was still active in Kansas and would not be apprehended until 1991 (with his identity as Dennis Lynn Rader finally being revealed as well). In particular, Harris drew inspiration from Dolarhyde’s penchant for necrophilia in BTK’s crimes, as the real-life inspiration shared the fictional characters’ disturbing tendencies.
However, other fictional criminals and iconic serial killers that Hannibal Lecter faced have less distinct real-life inspirations. Mason Verger, for example, was played by Gary Oldman in 1991 Hannibal, and was a key antagonist, as well as being one of Lecter’s first victims. Verger was a sadist and child abuser whose crimes are as disturbing as Hannibal’s cannibalism. However, There doesn’t appear to be any direct inspiration for the character, with his actions being more of a mix of several different cases and criminals.
In short, both the Hannibal The films and books they are based on are based on real life and transform some of the most disturbing crimes and their perpetrators into equally harrowing fictional characters and circumstances. This is no doubt why the broader franchise continues to be so captivating, but when it comes to basing characters more or less directly on real events, Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs remains the most comparable to a real person.