“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” said Ted Levine, who played Buffalo Bill. “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 unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s f***ing wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
When discussing the adaptation of Buffalo Bill from the pages to the silver screen, producer Edward Saxon explained, “From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm.”
Fans of the film are fuming on social media about the commentary being made by the makers of the film…
Transgenderism was on the fringes of society 35 years ago, so I think we could all forgive filmmakers for not having every subtle nuance of the community represented in their film or how society would view people who are transgender in 2026..
The vast majority of moviegoers actually didn’t even make the connection between Buffalo Bill and transgenderism.. He was a sadistic killer in the film.. and Anthony Hopkins ate people. Horror..
Ted Levine himself: “I didn’t play him as being gay or trans,” he said. “I think he was just a f***ed-up heterosexual man. That’s what I was doing.”
Also people point out that those debating this now are missing the point of the book and the film–and if they would have read the book, this could be viewed very differently..
Jame Gumb failed the psychological evaluations that are requirements for sex reassignment surgeries. Because he wasn’t trans; he was a psychopath. The care he needed wasn’t surgery it was mental health help. Thats the whole point.
And some posts on X have showcased a 1991 litigation of this issue on television then and the reaction then..
And it is true.. there were lots of articles and news coverage of this in 1991..
This could be a moment in time where history shapes up differently than how it was looking contemporarily.. but clearly for those of us who lived through 1991, this new article seems to be a bit odd given the big debate that actually DID OCCUR 35 years ago..
