Hannibal

Plot: Mason Verger had his face fed to wild dogs by Dr. Hannibal Lecter and now he wants revenge. To get it he will use FBI agent Clarice Starling to lure Lecter to him.

News:

12 February, 2001

Anthony Hopkins talked about the movie and charges that it is too gory and horrific. "We are fascinated by the darkness in ourselves, we are fascinated by the shadow, we are fascinated by the bogeyman," Hopkins said at a press conference at the Berlin Film Festival. "You live through someone else's nightmare for a few minutes while you're safely in the theater eating popcorn. Now if people are repulsed and terrified, so be it, I understand that as well. It is not everyone's taste if you forgive the pun," he said. "I don't think the people that see this film need to see a psychiatrist."

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31 January, 2001

If you were worried about rumors that had the dinner scene being cut from the movie for reasons of good taste, stop worrying. Ray Liotta insists that it's still there and actually "playful."

"The first time we did the scene the whole room was stunned," Liotta told London’s Daily Mail. "It made you gag and it made you laugh. Ridley [Scott] liked the more playful takes we did, because combining humor with the overwhelmingness of having my head being taken off worked."

While we're on the subject, Movie Headlines managed to get in for an early screening of the movie.

Julianne Moore shines as Clarice. Indeed Foster was a great choice for the "wonder-girl" Starling of "Lambs". Nonetheless, Moore is spot on as the pathos filled Agent trying to filmd her place in the FBI, always looking at the past to see where she went wrong. She still retains that immaculate morality identified with her from the previous film onwards, and hence does not generate into the ludicrous as she did at the end of the book. Yes, be happy, the ending is different, but only slightly. On a psychological and somehow deeper level, maybe the endings are indeed the same but that is for more qualified critics to decide.

Ridley Scott brings a kind of gloom into this film that is indeed necessary.

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9 January, 2001

The most excellent magazine Total Movie features a huge article on the movie in its latest issue. You are highly recommended to go snap it up for all the pics and details but we've got a few here to wet you appetite. Be warned though, these shots contain some spoilers regarding the ending of the movie. They won't be a big shock if you've read the book though.

Julianne Moore talked to Premiere Magazine about the movie. She talked of taking over the role from Jodie Foster. "There were the inevitable Jodie Foster questions, to which I said -- as I always do -- she's great, she's brilliant, and I hope I can act the role half as well as she did."

Despite all the horrendous things that happen in this movie, it was perhaps the simplest one that scared her. In one scene she had to drive through a herd of cows. "The crew was in stitches; Ridley was beside himself with laughter. They couldn't believe, after all the things I had done -- the guns, the boars, the running, the falling -- that what scared me most were these big, stupid cows."

3 January, 2001

Empire Online got a chance to talk to director Ridley Scott about the movie. When asked why he decided to take on the project, Scott replies, "It's a risk but we're all in search of good material. I was approached by Dino [De Laurentiis] and Tom Harris to take a look at the book - then in manuscript form, pre-publishing - and I thought a lot of it was quite witty. That's what I picked up on and so I've incorporated it in Hannibal. Hannibal's a very charming character and of course Anthony...is an incredibly charming man, that's part of who he is. He loves this character - it's part of him."

Scott even talked a bit about the unusual February release date, "It has a large release on 4,700 screens on February 9th which actually is the anniversary to the day - that's why we're going out then. It's also a great time to run because there's nothing around."

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19 December, 2000

If you're like me you hated the ending of Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal. Luckily, Ridley Scott shared the sentiment. In an interview with the NY Post, Scott said "I think it's a great book, but I told Tom [Harris], I just don't buy these two going off together, even with Clarice under the influence. He said, 'Fine, see what you come up with.' Tom was very happy with Steve Zaillian's screenplay, in which Hannibal and Clarice's affair of the heart is much more metaphorical."

While the novel certainly has its share of gore, Scott insists the movie isn't too hard to stomach. "The ratings board gave me an R rating. It's all about the perception of violence, how you serve it up. We don't dwell on the effects."

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21 November, 2000

The trailer to the long awaited sequel to Silence of the Lambs is now available for download online. Make sure you see this one. It's one of the creepiest most atmospheric trailers I've seen in a long time.

Click on any of the pictures below for a larger still from the trailer or click one of the links below to download the entire trailer.

• 6MB Mov Lo-Res
• 15MB MOV Med-Res
• 29MB MOV Hi-Res

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17 November, 2000

Oh this is really good. ET Online has posted the teaser trailer for the movie. No I don't mean that teaser that ran several months back with no new footage. This is a real teaser with actual footage from the movie and it looks great. It's nice and creepy and made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end at points.

• Lo-Res Windows Media
• H-Res Windows Media

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13 November, 2000

The official site has expanded considerably with all sorts of goodies. It features an interview with Anthony Hopkins, a lot of detail on shooting the movie and a ton of photos. Plus it has one of the better uses of Flash yet seen on an official site. In the background you can hear little bits of dialogue from Hopkins. Very well done site.

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31 October, 2000

Time Magazine ran a short piece on the movie (including this photo) where they talked to Julianne Moore about the infamous ending of the book. Asked if the movie kept the ending, Moore responds "We're not eating anything in that picture that you have, I don't think." Asked to clarify if that meant eating brains or not Moore says, "I'm not gonna tell you that stuff. No! You can go see the movie in February. Sorry."

Hmmm... Well what was it like working with Anthony Hopkins? "He's a wonderful person and a great person and having known him before made it miles easier. I actually spent my birthday with him in Paris when we were doing Surviving Picasso ... We just ate at a little bistro in Paris around the corner from our hotel. It was lovely."

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23 October, 2000

Oh this is good. The picture you see here is not for the weak of stomach. It's been cropped so you can't see what's going on without click on it but it relates to a gruesome little scene in the movie. Actually it has a mate that is much nastier over at Pound of Flesh that you really should go look at if you want to know the gory details (pun intended).

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22 September, 2000

The French edition of Premier magazine posted some photos from the filming on its website.

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7 September, 2000

Filming has been completed. Producers Dino and Martha Di Laurentiis spoke to Popcorn about the movie. "We finished shooting last Friday," says Martha of the 17 week production. She also indicates that editing is well under way.

Dino De Laurentiis was delighted with Julianne Moore's work, calling her "sensational." He goes on to say that Moore is "more physically right for the character in the book ten years later" than Foster. He also says that it will be scarier than The Silence Of The Lambs, calling it "full of emotion, intriguing, unusual and original."

His daughter agreed with his assessment, saying, There's mystery, it's gruesome, it's incredible, it's chilling - just Anthony with the voice - you'll see"

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6 September, 2000

We haven't mentioned some of the stars of this movie yet. I didn't want to boar you with the details. Sorry, bad pun. Mason Verger's plan for revenge on Hannibal Lecter revolves around feeding him to man eating pigs. Yes you read that right. For the movie approximately 6,000 pics were auditioned. In the end 15 Russian boars were chosen that belonged to a rancher in Winnipeg. Animal wrangler Sled Reynolds was in charge of training the boars. "They really don't attack -- they're just trained to go grab stuff," says Reynolds. "I mean, if they're crazy, how do you work around them?"

29 August, 2000

Interview with one of the stars Boyd Kestner

8 August, 2000

An article appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the movie now that it has finished filming there. Martha De Laurentiis (wife of producer Dino) talked about the Julianne Moore's performance in the part of FBI agent Clarice Starling. "Julianne Moore plays Clarice Starling as comfortably and as well as any actress plays a role. We've said it always: Give the audience the first 30 seconds of a movie, or the first minute or two, and the audience forgets it's a different actress. [Moore] is totally Clarice Starling."

Locations in Richmond included the parking lot behind the Canal Club, which doubled as a fish market for a gun battle; the old State Library which was used to duplicate the jail Lecter was housed in during Silence of the Lambs; a home on Park Avenue which doubled as Clarice Starling's home; and a site at Grove and Harrison, at which Lecter tortures and eats a victim. Also shot in the area are scenes occurring in Mason Verger's barns that were shot at Montpelier (former US President James Madison's estate) and scenes inside Verger's house which will be shot at the Biltmore Estate (the largest private residence in America) in Asheville, North Carolina.

One of the big questions surrounding the production is how closely it sticks to Thomas Harris' novel, in particular the ending. All De Laurentiis would say on the matter was, "We're pretty faithful to the book, up until a point."

7 August, 2000

Filming has wrapped up in Richmond and is now moving to the Biltmore Estates in North Carolina. Below is a report from the still under construction set.

"My wife and I took a short trip to Asheville, NC this weekend. Of course my place of destination was the Biltmore Estates. We walked up to the entrance and asked if they had started filming Hannibal yet. She said no but the sets were in progress for the movie. I got a chance to see them both the library and the bedroom. The bedroom was pretty much closed off but I managed to see a few details. The room was about 30ft by 15ft with 20ft ceilings. Each side of the room had two large double doors. On the back wall was 12ft medevil quilts and a large painting over the fire place. Very gothic. Right in front of the fire place was the bed. It was made of metal and steel poles held the canapy. It was mechanical from what I could tell. The bottom of it was made with an alluminum frame. The top of the bed had all sorts of junk on it. The room was covered with 6ft scultpures. Mostly black scultpures of men. Smaller sculptures set on the mantel and night stands, very gothic. Everything was out of position of course but most of the props were from the Estate it seemed. The windows were covered with the original wool curtains which blocked the 60 mile view out the window. If it gives you any idea I felt like I was in Wayne Manor.

Along with the tour we made our way to the libra