 Gene Hackman (qv) bought the rights to "The Silence of the Lambs"  and was planning to direct the film as well as taking on the role of  Jack Crawford , but he withdrew after watching a clip of himself in  _Mississippi Burning (1988)_ (qv) at the  _61st Annual Academy Awards, The (1989) (TV)_ (qv), which made him  uneasy about taking more violent roles. When Jonathan Demme (qv)  took over as director, he offered the role of Clarice first to  Michelle Pfeiffer (qv) and also to Meg Ryan (qv).