The Silence of the Lambs
Design Studio
Dazu
Art Director
Dawn Baillie
Designer
Dawn Baillie
Photographer
Ken Regan
Photographer
Lee Varis
Photographer
Kevin Stapleton
Client
Orion Pictures
Date1991
MediumOffset Lithograph
Dimensions41 x 28 in. (104.1 x 71.1 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Dawn Baillie, Poster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.8152
DescriptionSince an account executive quit right around the time this project was brought to Dazu, designer Dawn Baillie ended up being the only person working on the poster. Her imagery for The Silence of the Lambs would go on to become her most highly praised design, frequently listed as one of the most important and impactful movie posters of all time.The photograph of the death’s-head hawkmoth was taken from a specimen Dawn had rented from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. While the insect does have a skull-like design on its back, director Jonathan Demme asked that Salvador Dalí’s famous 1951 photograph of naked women forming a skull be incorporated into the design. This concept was printed in the teaser poster, but the Motion Picture Association demanded the removal of the nudes; for the payoff design, account executive Bryan Allen therefore hired models dressed in bodysuits to recreate the formation.
On View
On view
