The Silence of the Lambs actor, Ted Levine, has candidly discussed his regret over a ‘f*cking wrong’ transgender portrayal in the box-office smash-hit.Levine, 68, starred as Buffalo Bill in the 1991 crime-horror movie, which also featured Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.While Buffalo Bill’s sexual orientation is not explicitly stated, it has been widely regarded as gender nonconforming and identifying as trans.The film centres on Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee tasked with tracking down serial killer Jame ‘Buffalo Bill’ Gumb, who has been abducting and murdering young women, removing their skin as part of his crimes.

The story later reveals that Gumb was turned away by several gender-reassignment clinics on the grounds of psychological instability, and has begun stealing women’s skin in an attempt to realise his desire to transition.LGBTQ+ outlet Pink News explains that, over the decades, critics have blasted the film as one of the most ‘significant and impactful examples of pop culture transmisogyny’, arguing that it encourages audiences to reject trans people’s ‘self-identification’.In her coming out statement, filmmaker Lily Wachowski condemned it for ‘demonising and vilifying’ trans women, adding: “We are not predators, we are prey.”Levine has now publicly addressed the backlash.Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview published last week (14 February), Heat star Levine acknowledged: “There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well.”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.”