'Silence of the Lambs' Star Calls Film's Handling of Gender Identity 'F***ing Wrong'

"Silence of the Lambs" totally missed the mark when it came to handling gender identity onscreen ... so says one of the movie's biggest stars.

Ted Levine -- the actor who played Buffalo Bill in the hit 1991 film -- finally addressed the controversy surrounding his character in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

If you haven't seen the movie, Buffalo Bill is a serial killer who flays women and wears their skin over his own ... which, in more recent years, many have claimed makes the character an unflattering portrayal of transgender or gender nonconforming people.

Levine told the outlet he didn't play the character as either ... he always portrayed him as a screwed-up straight man -- and, he had no qualms about the character while shooting the movie.

However, Levine says now, "[It’s] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender. It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s f***ing wrong.”

Producer Edward Saxon echoed Levine's sentiments ... telling THR the filmmakers didn't think they'd upset the transgender community because they didn't consider Buffalo Bill trans.

They felt he just was a sick individual with an "aberrant personality." However, Saxon admits he feels the team wasn't sensitive enough to sterotypes.

He goes on, "There’s regret, but it didn’t come from any place of malice. It actually came from a place of seeing this guy. We all had dear friends and family who were gay. We thought it would just be very clear that Buffalo Bill adapts different things from society, from a place of an incredibly sick pathology.”

BTW ... Saxon also takes aim at President Donald Trump in the interview -- telling the outlet he feels the prez likening immigrants to Hannibal Lecter is "as perverse as anything we were able to come up with in the film."