Casting Silence of the Lambs

Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Derek Jacobi, and Daniel Day-Lewis all turned down the role for Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs. I can't actually imagine any of them in the role. Anthony Hopkins was just too perfect for it. Hopkins based his interpretation of the role on HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Silence of the Lambs (film) - Wikipedia