I think I could see Jude Law making an interesting Lector.

I heard they were considering Law for Red Dragon, for a short period of time.

Went to see Borat last night and there was a movie poster for a new "Hannibal" movie. Can't remember the name exactly, but the poster was a closeup of Lecter's face with the famous mask on.

Can't find any information on IMDB about this either. I know the title was "Hannibal (something)".

Anyone got any info? I did a search for Hannibal and didn't get anything back.

From msn.com

Thomas Harris ' "Hannibal Rising," which tells of the early years of literature's most famous cannibal, is the fourth of the million-selling series that includes "The Silence of the Lambs," made into an Academy-Award winning film starring Anthony Hopkins.

The new book will have a first printing of at least 1.5 million copies.

"Now, in `Hannibal Rising,' readers will at last learn of Lecter's beginnings and will see the evolution of his evil," Irwyn Applebaum, president and publisher of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, said Tuesday in a statement.

Harris' novel was originally titled "Behind the Mask" and was supposed to come out in the fall of 2005. Applebaum declined comment when asked by The Associated Press why the book took longer than expected, saying, "Sometimes, that's how the process works."

Harris was simultaneously writing the screenplay for a film version of "Hannibal Rising," due in early 2007.

i keep hearing that Vin Diesel is going to have a movie out where he plays Hannibal

I believe that he is going to the character "Hannibal" that rides the elephants.

^^^^Don't leach.

I'm pretty sure that project that has been killed.

And Hollywood, enough with the Hannibal movies.

The one true Hannibal.

Thanks! Google didn't even come up with that info.

Well, yes and no. If this prequel is like "Hannibal", then I'll pass. If it's like "Red Dragon", I'm there. Because I thought that was a terrific film. And a worthy companion to "Silence of the Lambs" IMO.

They should of stopped after the second one.

It definitely seems like it's more along the lines of "Hannibal" where the character is bastardized by making him some sort of sympathetic antihero.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the Hannibal portrayed in "Hannibal" does not match the Hannibal of "Red Dragon" and "The Silence of the Lambs".

I was thinking of "Hannibal" tonight and realized just how blatantly Thomas Harris made all of Lecter's victims in that book more disgusting and vile than he is in that book, which completely ruins the character.

The Lecter of "Red Dragon" and "Silence" would murder anyone (with the possible exception of Clarice Starling) to entertain himself and/or gain some sort of advantage towards escape and continuing his insane lifestyle.

In "Hannibal" it is said that he prefers to "eat the rude" and is given a tragic backstory (which is elaborated upon in "Hannibal Rising") that is a poorly-executed attempt at trying to justify his actions.

It makes no sense that he would go from avenging the cannibalism of his innocent sister to trying to kill Will Graham's innocent family, the nurse that he attacked, all the people killed during his escape, etc.

In the first two books he's portrayed as a sociopath that likes to kill people and eat them for no particular reason and that's why he's such an iconic character. Will Graham (who I find to be superior to Starling as a character) says as much and to accept the crap that Harris has come up with since is to completely invalidate Graham's beliefs and ideas re: Lecter, even though Graham's ability to understand people like Lecter served as the basis for the initial entry in this series.

The Lecter of the first two books posed a threat to any man, woman or child. The Lecter of "Hannibal" and (presumably) "Hannibal Rising" should only be feared by disfigured child molesters, poachers, inept pychologists and cannibalistic Nazi deserters. Since I fit into none of those categories I was baffled at all the critic blurbs on the paperback that talk about how scary the book is. To me it comes across like bad fanfic.

Fixed.

I pretty much agree Guru. The only time in Hannibal when he really came alive as the character imo was at the end when he was tied up and said a mean line about how bad the guy's brother probably smelled... or something along those lines.

I might be wrong...but wasn't "Hannibal" handled the same way as the new prequal, book AND screenplay being written at the same time?

"Manhunter", "Silence of the Lambs", and "Red Dragon", I thought, were all really good films, BASED on books...Hannibal just ended up being a really crappy screenplay, not scary in the least, IMO.

Enough already. I don't think we really need another movie about him.
Another example of Hollywood going back to well when it is dry.

Enough. I've had enough of movies glorifying slick serial killers.

No, Thomas Harris simultaneously wrote the "Hannibal Rising" novel and screenplay (finishing the screenplay much earlier) whereas everyone was waiting for him to turn in "Hannibal", at which point he was uninvolved with the screenwriting process. The deal for "Hannibal" was made long before Harris finished it but everyone was on pins and needles waiting for him to finish so they could get started whereas Dino De Laurentiis and the Weinsteins just went full-steam ahead on this one.

The credited screenwriters on "Hannibal" were David Mamet and Steve Zaillian but none of Mamet's draft actually made it into the movie. "Silence of the Lambs" and "Red Dragon" screenwriter Ted Tally was offered the role but turned it down. I think he was actually the first to bail, even before Foster & Demme.

In any case, "Hannibal Rising" is the first film in the franchise to have a screenplay by Thomas Harris and the first to not be produced after the book was available.

The three words that are the kiss of death for a movie, as far as I'm concerned.

Well, "Silence of the Lambs" is the only Lecter film that De Laurentiis wasn't involved in.

I think "Manhunter" is typical of the b-grade exploitation crap that De Laurentiis was producing in the mid-80's and "Hannibal" is a well-produced version of a terrible novel but I thought "Red Dragon" turned out pretty damn good.

In any case, the only one of the first three Lecter films that he was involved in with his stamp all over it is "Manhunter", I pretty much think that as owner of the film rights to the Lecter character (which he allowed Orion to use in "Silence" for free after "Manhunter" tanked) he just sat back on "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon" and watched the cash flow in.

Just curious if anyone is planning on seeing this... I'm waiting for the DVD to rent myself, the book has gotten pretty bad reviews and the last few movies have been gradually worse and worse...

As a big Hannibal fan who has seen all the movies and read all the books I will definitely be seeing Hannibal Rising this weekend. BUT the book was absolutely terrible, I hope the movie is a bit more exciting than the book. The book was the worst of the series and I suspect the movie will be the worst of the series also...

The ads for the movie make it look like Saw. I have absolutely no interest in seeing Thomas Harris' pathetic attempt at humanizing Lecter, who was always the scariest when he seemingly had no motives.