Jonathan Demme, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ director, dead at 73

By JAKE COYLE / Associated Press

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.

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 Bridges 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.

5 notable films by the late Jonathan Demme

MELVIN AND HOWARD: Among the most memorable films about Howard Hughes, this 1980 release starred Jason Robards as the mysterious billionaire and Paul le Mat as Melvin Dummar, the struggling everyman who encounters Hughes in the Nevada desert. Mary Steenburgen won an Oscar for playing Lynda, Melvin’s first wife.

STOP MAKING SENSE: One of the most acclaimed and innovative rock documentaries, this 1984 film drew upon state of the art digital technology as it drew upon a series of Talking Heads concerts at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. Highlights included classic performances of “Burning Down the House,” ”Psycho Killer” and “Take Me to the River,” among others.

SOMETHING WILD: A joyous screwball comedy from 1986 and another story of strangers bonding. Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels starred in a road adventure featuring shifting identities, unpaid checks and a breakthrough, terrifying performance by a pre-“Goodfellas” Ray Liotta as Griffith’s ex-convict husband.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS: Once again, strangers meet and the results are unforgettable. The Oscar-winning adaptation of Thomas Harris’ grisly novel stars Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling and, in one of the all-time roles, Anthony Hopkins as the flesh-eating Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The film swept all five major Academy Awards at the 1992 ceremony: film, director, screenplay, actor and actress.

PHILADELPHIA: Released in 1993 and one of the first major productions about AIDS, “Philadelphia” stars Oscar-winner Tom Hanks as a corporate lawyer and closeted gay who becomes fatally ill and contends with the fears and phobias that follow. The soundtrack was almost as notable as the story, featuring Neil Young’s Oscar-nominated title song and Bruce Springsteen’s brooding, Oscar-winning “Streets of Philadelphia.”

AP Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.