10 Actors Who Refused To Return For Sequels To Acclaimed Films

For a while it looked like Jodie Foster was fully on board when it came to revisiting the character of Clarice Starling in the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - a role which earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

However, it soon became clear that Foster wasn't exactly happy with the direction her character was going in the follow-up. Staying largely faithful to the Hannibal novel itself written by Thomas Harris, the film would see Starling getting brainwashed by Hannibal Lecter and feasting on humans herself.

Foster and Silence's director Jonathan Demme clearly felt this tale didn't fall in line with the way they wanted to present Clarice, with the actor admitting back in 2005:

'Clarice meant so much to Jonathan and I, she really did, and I know it sounds kind of strange to say but there was no way that either of us could really trample on her.'

So, after multiple attempts to create a script which appealed to Foster, the studio eventually decided to recast the role. Julianne Moore - another incredibly talented thespian in her own right - stepped in, Hopkins returned as Lecter and Ridley Scott sat in the director's chair, but Hannibal (2001) didn't take off in quite the same way the first film did a decade earlier.