John Lithgow Would Have Played Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS If Anthony Hopkins Turned Down the Role

Anthony Hopkins’s take on Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs is iconic, and he ended up winning the Best Actor Oscar. But had Anthony Hopkins turned down the role, the producers had another actor ready to go to play the dark, disturbed, and vile character. That actor was John Lithgow.

During a recent interview with Deadline, Lithgow shared this little bit of trivia regarding the opportunity he almost had:

"If Anthony Hopkins had turned it down they were coming straight for me. I even went in to meet with (director) Jonathan Demme and he said 'I have to tell you we've offered it this morning to Anthony Hopkins,' and I said, 'Then what am I doing here?' And I just crossed my fingers that he would turn it down, and he didn't. On the other hand, I don't think I could have done it as well as Anthony Hopkins....I would have been much taller, that's the main difference."

While I loved what Hopkins brought to Hannibal Lecter, I would have also loved to see how Lithgow would have brought the character to life! We did eventually get to see him play a serial killer named “Trinity Killer” in Showtime’s Dexter, though, which he was awesome in! He also played a killer in the film Raising Cain.

In addition to Lithgow, Silence of the Lambs star Jodie Foster previously revealed that Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Dustin Hoffman were also all considered for the role of Lecter.

What do you think about the Lithgow almost getting to play Hannibal Lecter? Do you think he could have pulled it off?