Kristen Wiig has proven herself to be a versatile actor since leaving Saturday Night Live, holding down everything from goofier roles in films like Bridesmaids to more dramatic fare like The Skeleton Twins. She hasn’t done an outright horror film yet, but if there was going to be a modern reboot of The Silence Of The Lambs… well, she probably wouldn’t be considered for the part, but the audition tape would be hilarious.
Based on this fabricated reality, W Magazine has produced the audition tape of Wiig and a few others reading for the role of Hannibal Lecter. Wiig tries her darndest to make the role work for her, but even if she had the best possible line reading, the expectation that Wiig’s performance is sarcastic and a quasi-serious tonal affectation leaves viewers just waiting for her to break.
Jane Fonda, on the other hand, totally pulls off the grizzly creepiness necessary for the part. Her tone is full of life, but in that life is internal sociopathic nothingness. Conversely, Mya Taylor’s reading comes off as a bit too Broadway, while Carey Mulligan and Greta Gerwig aren’t on screen long enough to get a solid read on their performances. Regardless, Anthony Hopkins was probably the right choice for the role, but if the film were to get a Ghostbusters-style female-led reboot, Fonda could definitely be in the running to play the unsettling lead.