A role offered to actor Sean Connery was turned down because it was too “disgusting”.
The Family Business and Highlander star could have bagged himself an Academy Award in the Best Actor category had he taken the role in the 1990s thriller. But Connery passed on the project, one of the many major roles the veteran of the screen would turn down in his time as an active performer. Though the role was originally offered to Connery, who had won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in The Untouchables just a few years prior, the star found it too disgusting to accept. Though Connery has featured in iconic films like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Rock, and Time Bandits, the list of films he turned down is just as stacked with quality.
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Matrix, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were all turned down by Connery for various reasons. For Silence of the Lambs, the role was simply too disturbing for Connery.
The role of Hannibal Lecter would later go to Anthony Hopkins, who would pick up an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992, where Silence of the Lambs swept the “Big Five” at the Oscars ceremony. The film won Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director at that year’s ceremony.
It was a big miss for Connery, who could very well have ended up as a two-time Academy Award winner had he taken on the role. Director Jonathan Demme told Deadline that Connery was the “only other person” aside from Hopkins they had in mind for the role.
He said: “Sean Connery was the only other person I thought could be amazing for this. Connery has that fierce intelligence and also that serious physicality. I love Tony Hopkins, but Sean Connery could be amazing.”
There was also a practical reason for hiring Connery, who was still a sought-after star, especially in the years after bagging himself an Oscar. Demme confirmed it made sense for the film to “to take the most commercial path, because Connery was flying very high at the time, we sent the script to Sean Connery first.”
But it was a firm no from Connery, who aired his disgust at the project. “Word came back shortly that he thought it was disgusting and wouldn’t dream of playing the part,” Demme said. “So, great, now we can go to Tony Hopkins.”
Hopkins would go on to portray Lecter a total of three times, in Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Red Dragon. The role was also portrayed by Brian Cox in Manhunter and Mads Mikkelsen in the Hannibal television adaptation.
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