The Silence of the Lambs
Design Studio
Dazu
Art Director
Dawn Baillie
Designer
Dawn Baillie
Photographer
Ken Regan
Photographer
Lee Varis
Client
Orion Pictures
Photographer
Kevin Stapleton
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.8153
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. Less well known than the image showing just Jodie Foster, the two other designs were created as teaser posters. As a standard leading actor’s contract required, Anthony Hopkins had to have equal likeness and prominence in all promotional materials—as such, the two more boldly colored posters were created a little later than the original design as a “make good” on that part of the contract. While all movie theaters would have received the full set of posters from the film’s distributor, it was up to them to choose which poster to show at the box office. Most went with the original design.
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