All the previous Hannibal Lecter films had big name directors, even Manhunter's Michael Mann. The official trilogy had Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott and Brett Ratner. For the prequel, , they picked an arthouse guy, Girl With A Pearl Earring's Peter Webber.
I would think that the cross over between all those who rsquo;ve seen Pearl Earring and all those who may go and see this will be limited to tell you the truth, said Webber. I think they rsquo;re very different audiences because they rsquo;re such different kinds of movies. And that was deliberate.
After the last film I did, which did well and I rsquo;m very proud of it and very happy with how well it did because I thought 10 people would go and see it, I thought it was a very particular audience, I got so many scripts about dead painters or about young women desperately falling in love with older men they couldn rsquo;t have that after a while I thought lsquo;My God I rsquo;ve made one movie and I rsquo;ve been stereotyped. rsquo; I loved that movie to death but I don rsquo;t want to make endless copies of it. So just to keep myself fresh and to keep people on their toes, I thought alright, let rsquo;s do the anti-Pearl.
So this is the anti-Pearl. The first three Hannibal novels and films centered on Dr. Lecter's interplay with agents of law enforcement.
The prequel is finally Hannibal's own story, giving Rising a different dynamic from the get go. I think Thom [Harris] had already done that. I rsquo;ve read the reviews in the States and I understand his book has not been well received here.
I think part of the reason for that is because he rsquo;s tried to do something different and people haven rsquo;t given him the room to do that. They rsquo;ve seen the first novels, especially the first couple, being of a certain kind and for me what was so interesting was that he just went away from all of that and he wrote something that is far more mythological, fairytale like. It rsquo;s a story of how someone becomes a monster and it seemed to me to be the European installment of that Hannibal Lecter myth.
So I think I would have been far less likely to do it if I rsquo;d felt this was a repetition of Silence of the Lambs which I think is a masterpiece I have to say. I take my hat off to that film. Jonathan Demme did an amazing job.
But for me what was interesting was that it was striking some new notes so as you say, Hannibal had to be at the center for the whole time. There is a relationship with a policeman but not remotely as important in this film as it is in some of the others. It rsquo;s much more about Hannibal rsquo;s internal journey and how the process of seeking revenge destroys him, how his humanity is scoured out.
And that was very refreshing because it meant that we could do what we wanted to for better or for worse and we didn rsquo;t feel trapped by the earlier movies. When it comes down to the actual explanation for Hannibal's personality development, the film tries to be ambiguous. I would say it rsquo;s a nature/nurture question.
I supposed I rsquo;d say it rsquo;s 75% nurture, 25% nature. Okay? I think that he has something within him special, different, and potentially evil but it took that particular set of circumstances to bring it out.
Dealing with young Hannibal also took away some of his adult skills, namely his acute psychological mind games. I think people are intelligent enough to see that you have possibilities and talents as a young person that you then develop as you grow older. And I think there was enough there.
You rsquo;re talking about a fictional character. It rsquo;s not like this is the gospels and this is the real Jesus, although the way people talk you rsquo;d think sometimes that we had made an episode from the gospels. There seems to me there is a real church of Lecter out there who are looking very, very strictly.
I think there rsquo;s enough there. For me, the more important thing was are we being true to Thom rsquo;s script, to Thom rsquo;s vision of this character who he created, and are we making an entertaining movie. And are we making a powerful movie because I really wanted to make something that would kind of punch people between the eyes by the end so it was as harsh as Pearl Earring was subtle I suppose is what I was attempting to do for better or worse.
My mom won rsquo;t like it, that rsquo;s for sure. Hannibal Rising opens to theatres on February 9th, 2007. For full synopsis and more movie info, go to the .
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