Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins reunited virtually to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the movie that netted them both Oscar trophies: "The Silence of the Lambs," Jonathan Demme's film adaptation of Thomas Harris' novel.
The conversation was part of Variety's "Actors on Actors" series.
MORE: Jake Gyllenhaal reflects on 'Donnie Darko' 20th anniversary: The film 'changed my life'Hopkins, who played cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, admitted to being confused by the film's title at first. "My agent sent a script. He said, 'Why don't you read this? It's called "Silence of the Lambs."' I said, 'Is it a children’s story?'"
For all of Lecter's icy menace -- modeled after an old acting teacher of Hopkins', he revealed -- it was he who was at first intimidated by Foster, who played newbie FBI recruit Clarice Starling. "I was scared to speak to you. I thought, 'She just won an Oscar [for 'The Accused']."
Calling the Best Picture-winning film "a life-changing adventure ... for both of us," Foster recalled the pair's first read-through of the script, which had them sitting opposite each other at a table. "And as you launched into Hannibal Lecter, I felt a chill come over the room."
MORE: Vin Diesel marks 20 years of 'The Fast and the Furious'Foster also wondered if people "still ask [Hopkins] if [he] would like a nice chianti," to which Hopkins replied, "All the time."
As fans would hope, Hopkins ended the conversation with an in-character "Goodbye, Clarice," to which Foster laughed and responded, "Bye, Dr. Lecter."