Hannibal Lecter in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ = Mentor?

A 7-minute video featuring… me.

I pack a lot into this video excerpt of an interview I did back in August with the fine folks at Film Courage — Karen Worden and David Branin. In just seven minutes, I talk about:

• Hollywood’s affinity for movies with happy endings
• Positive transformation arc
• Four Act Structure
• Clarice Starling’s journey from Disunity to Unity
• Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor and Trickster in The Silence of the Lambs
• How a psychopath like Lecter can function as the story’s Mentor figure

As a bonus, you get to hear my impersonation of Anthony Hopkins doing Hannibal Lecter.

The Silence of the Lambs is a great example of a movie with five primary character archetypes and how each one of them serves and supports the Protagonist’s transformation process. Every character Clarice intersects with is precisely the character she needs to meet to compel her to deal with her inner ‘demons’ and give rise to the emergence of her empowering inner spirit.

In a screenplay, think about the respective narrative functions of each of your primary characters.

There’s more of the interview to come over the next few weeks, so check out the video clips at Film Courage. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or if you learned anything from the conversation.

Twitter: @filmcourage