‘There are still times when I’m afraid…’: Why The Silence of the Lambs marked Scott Glenn’s life

Actors Studio trained Scott Glenn is a fabulous actor who has long had nothing to prove. In a career spanning more than sixty years, sometimes up and down, he starred in absolute classics of cinema, even if he, unfairly, never had the honor of receiving only one Oscar nomination.

He was the brilliant Alan Shepard in The Stuff of Heroes, starred in Urban Cowboy, Nashville or Apocalypse Now, in the classic Western Silverado, with John McTiernan in The Hunt for Red October, a false informant and trafficker in Antoine Fuqua’s film. training day

And of course the excellent Jack Crawford of the FBI in Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs.

In a fascinating and recent interview with the site Flashback files Exploring his career, the actor talks about how he proved his life with this role and this film.

“It will mean you for the rest of your life”

“The most emotionally and psychologically difficult role I’ve ever played was ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ .

Jonathan wanted two or three weeks for Agent John E. I spent time with Douglas in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. , discovering and knowing this world. What I knew in this study, to immerse myself in the role, still gives me nightmares.

I was in the Marine Corps. I grew up in Pittsburgh. It’s not like I lived in a shelter. I thought I saw humanity at its worst. I had no idea.

When you listen to a recording of people raping, torturing, and killing little children, even if you sit there for thirty seconds, it makes you angry for a lifetime. There are moments when it still scares me.”

“I don’t have an honest answer to that.”

“Looking at your role, do you think you really needed to hear all that?” In response, the journalist asks him intelligently. Scott Glenn answers: “I don’t have an honest answer to that. I really don’t know. What I do know is that this experience lends a sense of authority to your performance. you without intending to.

For example, in these scenes that I’m doing with Jody, when I’m talking to her about this guy she’s looking for, I’m not trying to go to those dark places, but I’m sure they’re “all there.”