Michelle Pfeiffer reveals she turned down 'The Silence of The Lambs' because the script was too 'evil'

• Michelle Pfeiffer turned down a role in Jonathan Demme's "The Silence of the Lambs" because of the film's "evil" script.
• Pfeiffer said she was uncomfortable with how evil wins at the end of the movie.
• Jodie Foster ultimately took on the role and won an Oscar for her performance.

Michelle Pfeiffer revealed that she turned down a role in Jonathan Demme's Oscar-winning horror "The Silence of the Lambs" because she was uncomfortable with the film's "evil" script.

Pfeiffer, who previously worked with Demme on 1988's "Married to the Mob," was originally the director's first choice to play the iconic role of FBI agent Clarice Starling, but Pfeiffer told The New Yorker that she couldn't justify the film's dark narrative.

"With 'Silence of the Lambs' I was trepidatious," she said. "There was such evil in that film. The thing I most regret is missing the opportunity to do another film with Jonathan [Demme]."

When asked what exact parts of the film's occult narrative she was uncomfortable with, Pfeiffer said: "It was that evil won in the end, that at the end of that film evil ruled out. I was uncomfortable with that ending. I didn't want to put that out into the world."

"Silence of the Lambs," of course, went to become a huge critical and commercial success. The film grossed over $270 million worldwide and swept the Academy Awards with Demme picking up best director, Jodie Foster winning best actress for her role as Clarice Starling, and the film is still the only horror movie to win best picture.

Later in the interview, Pfeiffer reiterated her regrets over not having the chance to work with Demme, who died in 2017, a second time.

"It's so sad to me that he's no longer with us," she said. "First of all, he is the nicest person, he is funny, and not only is he really funny but he's the easiest person to make laugh, so we just laugh all the time. It ['Married to the Mob'] was a very demanding shoot, but for whatever reason, I just sort of stepped into her. I don't know why. I didn't have to work really that hard at it, I didn't even have to work that hard at the accent."

In 2019, during an interview on the Today show, Pfeiffer spoke about her career and the list of classic films she turned down. Pfeiffer's list of would-be movies includes hits like "Pretty Woman," "Basic Instinct," and "Thelma and Louise."

"The thing is, there are so many reasons that go into turning something down, and it's not necessarily because you don't want to do it," she said. "There's a conflict, you're committed to something else. Typically, it was something like that."