Jodie Foster loves when fans quote 'Silence of the Lambs' — here's why

Nearly 23 years after the release of “Silence of the Lambs,” Jodie Foster still embraces the staunch fandom.

While appearing on TODAY Jan. 17, Hoda Kotb asked if fans walk up to the two-time Oscar winner and quote the movie to her, including the way Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) says the name of Foster’s character, Clarice, throughout the film.

“I love it! I love it,” Foster said of fans approaching her, explaining that “it just feels like somehow what we did was meaningful and that it entered into the collective unconscious.”

Foster added that she finds that to be a “good thing” because the 1991 film “had a lot of heart.”

The “Nyad” star shared that after “Silence of the Lambs,” she hadn’t taken another detective role until her new part in the latest season of “True Detective,” which premiered on Jan. 14.

When asked why she chose to take this detective role as her first since the 1991 horror, Foster credited the writing and direction.

“Well it’s a great script so that was first and foremost and then I met Issa López, our director, who has such a vision, is funny, first one on the dance floor, flexible prepared, so it was a no-brainer,” she said.

However, Foster shared later on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna that her new role as Detective Liz Danvers couldn’t be “any more different” than Clarice.

Foster said of the character: "She's awful. She’s basically awful. She’s stuck in her ways, she’s kind of unconscious, she thinks she makes a lot of jokes that aren’t funny and I think she’s suffering inside, so this is the mast that she holds things together.”

The "Anna and the King" actor revealed she's hopeful that that description wouldn't fit how Clarice turned out in the future, separating her two character's narratives entirely.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com