I wonder if I should bother highlighting the really foolish things actors and celebrities say when they start talking about social issues and politics. Is it the Julie Principle? “Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, actors think they have valuable things to say about stuff they know little about and are no more qualified to opine on than your average sanitation worker…” Stories like this one make me ponder.
Ted Levine’s most famous role in a successful career as a character actor came early when he played the serial killer “Buffalo Bill,” aka. Jaime Gumm, in “The Silence of the Lambs.” The movie was a sensation, winning both Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins acting Oscars while its director won the Direction Oscar and the film was Best Picture. Still, Levine’s performance as a mincing, gender-confused psycho (who skinned his female victims to make a “girl suit” was as memorable as either of his co-stars.
Now Levine is in a career slump, or something, so today, thirty-five years later, he says that he “regrets” playing Bill. He told the Hollywood Reporter,
“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well.We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate… [It’s] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of genderIt’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s fucking wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
Feel better now, Ted? Were Hollywood Wokies being mean to you because you accepted a plum part as a struggling actor and didn’t anticipate the Transsexual Fever to come in 2026? Will you be acceptable now, after pandering to LGPTQ+ fanatics and activists?
Ethics Alarms 
I never really “got” the whole “Silence of the Lambs” thing.
There is one aspect I might push back on with this analysis. While I personally don’t agree with the following thought, I know some conservatives do. (Unless they are paid by SPLC to espouse these beliefs, that is.) They honestly do look at the character of Buffalo Bill as representative of a trans person: someone who is mentally deranged, obsessed with his dysphoria and striving any way possible to make his body match what his mind wants. So I think there is a small legitimacy to the concern of how “Silence of the Lambs” impacts perception of trans persons. I just personally think the number of people who are affected are within that “you’re never going to get rid of all the crazies,” but I don’t have any actual statistical analysis to provide. The problem is that some of these people who are unduly influenced can also be very hateful and very vocal. I wonder if Levine has received any fan mail from such crazies thanking him for revealing to the world how terrible trans people really are at heart.
Agree, but that’s everyone, right? People use the stereotype of Gordon Gecko to attack any white person in a suit, or again, Ted Levine as Big Bob in the Hills Have Eyes for some rural disconnected white person who big city folk can’t relate to or understand.
Having a “villain” is inclusion and helps a community acknowledge they aren’t perfect. Having self-awareness and a thick enough skin to point out the fallacy of painting a demographic based on a single fictional villain is a leading indicator of a healthy community. It leads to jokes and comedy and further inclusion. Didn’t “Bill” make an appearance in a Scary Movie and then it turned out he was just misunderstood because he wanted to live as a woman and he had a happy ending? I mean, I know it’s not canon to a single story, but it’s growth in character, growth in community.
If people feel put down by having a villain in their demographic for the reason it hits too close to home…well…that’s a different issue and only validates the portrayal. It’s “self-telling”.
To every “community”: Don’t play the victim card. Take it as a “cautionary tale” and remind yourself that you are not that villain. Villains are “inclusion”, not “representation”.
I think this Oklahoma attorney, found in contempt in front of 5 different judges, is the more common stereotype.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Z3JX1GAjQ
Why do (often has-been) actors feel compelled to demonstrate their ignorance? Is any attention at all, even derision, better than none?
Molly Ringwald recently advised Trump supporters that they’ll be found guilty of treason once he leaves office “That is what’s going to happen. You should not support what is going on… You are going to be seen as a collaborationist.”
A kind friend might have advised her that “collaborators” and “traitors” are the ones who assist the invaders, not resist them.
Also: WHAT’s “going on”? I have found that this question flummoxes the Trump Deranged.
This was my favorite line, especially the “reality of the meaning of gender” part. That’s hilarious, given that the Left over the last two decades has expended copious amounts of energy trying to make sure the meaning of “gender” is as meaningless and as divorced from reality as possible.
In woke world, where Levine lives, gender means whatever you want it to mean. A person can claim to be male, female, both, neither, a lamp, or a microwave with ears and a tail so as to be a dog…a person/microwave/dog.
So no, he’s not the least bit clear on gender and what it means. What does the Good Book say?…”although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…”
Just saw the movie ‘Normal.’
Am I a bad person because I love it when the good guys kill all the bad guys? Or that I laugh through a movie filled with shootings, stabbings, crushings …? Bob Odenkirk, what a gem.
‘Silence of the Lambs’ is so gripping, so thrilling … one of the best movies of all time. It doesn’t have an agenda, social, political or otherwise. It is a roller coaster ride that uses psychopathy to terrify and horrify. The character of Buffalo Bill is said to be a composite, inspired by actual serial killers. He does not represent the trans community – not now, and not when written in 1988.
Mr. Levine and everyone else need to get over it – it’s just a movie.
Every time I bring this movie up in front of a trans person, they immediately condemn it if they’ve seen it or know of it. I’ve learned not to bring up this movie, even if your trans friend loves horror movies and Anthony Hopkins.
I suspect Levine is doing some reputation rehab, either for his own legacy and what he perceives the future to be, so he can get other roles, or perhaps he knows some trans people and feels guilty about it. Though, I don’t think he feels that guilty because this role really did launch him.