1. The Silence Of The Lambs
The Myth: Throughout The Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal Lecter never blinks. Sir Anthony Hopkins faces a wondrous, yet undeserving legacy. Although a brilliant, classically trained actor who has tried many things throughout his illustrious career, hell only ever be remembered as Hannibal Lecter. His Oscar winning performance in The Silence Of The Lambs (as well as the underwhelming continuations Hannibal and Red Dragon) is an unnerving tour de force, made brilliant by Hopkins researching of serial killers. Hed discovered some psychopaths never blinked when talking, so his character didn't either. For the whole film.
The Shocking Truth: He does. Multiple Times. This myth is grounded in truth, in so far as Hopkins did discover this trait in killers and worked it into his performance, much to director Jonathon Demme's delight/horror. But while it was a part of Hannibal, it certainly wasn't a constant thing. In all of his scenes (incredibly few for a Best Actor winner), theres at least one moment where he does indeed blink (and not just for effect as some defenders of the myth will state). Not that this reduces the creepy effect, its just that, as with
the previous list's Pyscho fact, it's wrong. That the myth has flourished is testament to Hopkins performance; it was so disturbing people tried to find something to attribute to it.
Are there any major, incorrect movie myths we've missed out over these two lists? Let us know in the comments below.