Fastest Indian is a lovely film, he's a mean, argumentative old bugger but at the same time he just plays life with a straight bat, when he meets the trans woman I mean. Not remotely fazed. Polite and respectful, just not curious. It's cos of Hopkins, he was never less than believable.
I saw Silence of the Lambs before I'd heard any hype and I nearly shat my kecks, Hopkins was so scary. At the same time, Lecter's a sympathetic character. Horrible upbringing and he only ever killed people who were impolite or annoying in some way- the chap who missed the note at the concert-Lecter secretly fed him to his orchestra colleagues who were later treated for alcoholism and bulimia. Census takers, well, they can be annoying too. Coppers, well, they took the job, they knew the risks. And all the while he has the massive hinterland, the palaces of his memory. Burt Monroe doesn't have any of that, he just fixes and rides bikes and is polite with a very dry kiwi sense of humour. He's polite to people who are polite to him and if they're not at least he won't kill and eat them.