‘Silence of the Lambs’ director Jonathan Demme dies at 73

SHARE ‘Silence of the Lambs’ director Jonathan Demme dies at 73
523300700_68459273.jpg

Director Jonathan Demme in 2016 | Cindy Ord/Getty Images

NEW YORK — Jonathan Demme, the eclectic, ever-enthusiastic filmmaker behind the Oscar winners “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Philadelphia,” and the director of one of the most seminal concert films ever made, the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense,” has died. He was 73.

Demme’s publicist, Annalee Paulo, said Demme died Wednesday morning in his New York apartment, surrounded by his wife, Joanna, and three children. Demme died from complications from esophageal cancer, she said.

“He lived in love,” Oscar-winning “Moonlight” writer-director Barry Jenkins tweeted. “And rests in peace.”

Demme broke into moviemaking under the B-movie master Roger Corman in the early 1970s. “The Silence of the Lambs,” the 1991 thriller starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as an FBI analyst, brought him a new level of fame. The film earned him a directing Oscar, as well as best picture. Hopkins and Foster also earned best acting trophies for their roles.”The Silence of the Lambs,” however, was an outlier in his filmography, which was scattered across comedy, drama and music. His screwball comedy “Something Wild” starred Jeff Daniels and Melanie Griffith. “Philadelphia,” with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, was one of the first major Hollywood films to confront the AIDS crisis.

Demme last year released his latest concert film, “Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids,” on Netflix. Timberlake, a passionate fan of “Stop Making Sense,” sought out Demme to direct it.

“I’ve come to believe, and I kind of felt this when we did ‘Stop Making Sense,’ that shooting live music is kind of like the purest form of filmmaking,” Demme told The Associated Press. “There’s no script to worry about. It’s not a documentary, so you don’t have to wonder where this story is going and what we can use. It’s just: Here come the musicians. Here come the dancers. The curtain goes up. They have at it and we get to respond in the best way possible to what they’re doing up there.”

Demme made numerous films with Neil Young (“Heart of Gold,” ”Neil Young Trunk Show,” ”Neil Young Journeys”) as well as a documentary of Spalding Grey’s monologues (“Swimming in Cambodia”) and a film with the singer-songwriter Robin Hitchcock (“Storefront Hitchcock”)

“Jonathan was a born movie-maker: He loved people and he loved filming them. Fictional or actual, he caught so many lives and glimpses of lives and framed them for others to enjoy,” said Hitchcock. “Jonathan was a true keeper of souls, and now we must celebrate his.”

Demme most recently directed an episode of the Fox police drama “Shots Fired,” scheduled to air Thursday. Demme also completed a film for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to debut July 1.

In a statement, “Shots Fired” creators said: “We mourn the passing of Jonathan Demme,” said series creators Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood. “He was a tremendous artist who shared our belief that art can change the world. He was a gift, and he made every one around him better. He taught us to care a little bit more, believe a little bit more and listen a little bit more. We will miss him.”

Social media reacted swiftly with an outpouring of sentiments:

Jake Coyle, Associated Press

The Latest
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”