The Lecter Variation
Quote:
A Fine Young "Hannibal"
By Josh Grossberg
Forget the Chianti and fava beans--at this rate, we're going to get a movie featuring Hannibal Lecter chasing his meals with grape juice and jellybeans.
Yes, everybody's favorite cannibal may live to dine another day if Dino De Laurentiis gets his way, as the legendary Hollywood producer revealed at the Cannes Film Festival that Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris is plotting out the nefarious chowhound's early years for a new prequel titled The Lecter Variation: The Story of Young Hannibal Lecter.
Harris has written the story for the producer and is likely to write the screenplay himself as well as a book. The title refers to Bach's Goldberg Variations which have been a recurring musical reference in the Lecter saga to date.
De Laurentiis told Screen International that he's prepping this latest film, which will follow Lecter from his childhood growing up in Lithuania during World War II through those terrible teens spent in Paris, until he finally emigrated to the United States in his early twenties.
"Lecter was born into a very rich family, but the war destroyed it and killed his parents," De Laurentiis told the trade on Wednesday.
The Lecter Variation has the potential of being a truly scary flick--not for any onscreen mayhem, have you, but for the downright horrifying prospect of Anthony Hopkins trying to channel a twentysomething Hannibal. Of course, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the 65-year-old actor, who won an Oscar for Lambs and reprised the role in 2001's sequel Hannibal and 2002's prequel Red Dragon, will sit this one out (unless, of course, those CGI wizards decide to zap Tony's wrinkles like they did in Red Dragon and paste on pubescent pimples, a highly unlikely prospect).
De Laurentiis said he will most likely look for four different actors to play Lecter at the ages of 12, 16, 20 and 25.
As for the story, De Laurentiis was typically tight-lipped, but hinted that moviegoers may finally get the quid pro quo they've always hoped for--an opportunity to get into the good doctor's head and examine his past and pains.
"He was left with his sister with whom he had a very close relationship," said the producer.
De Laurentiis is something of an expert in Lecter lore, having produced both the Ridley Scott-helmed Hannibal, which grossed more than $320 million worldwide, and Brett Ratner's Red Dragon, which tallied more than $268 million in global box-office receipts.
De Laurentiis was also the first to adapt Harris' evil creation for the big screen in 1986's Michael Mann-directed dud Manhunter, an earlier incarnation of Red Dragon that starred CSI's William Petersen and Brian Cox in a limited role as Hannibal the Cannibal. (That film's poor performance at the box office led De Laurentiis to pass on The Silence of the Lambs, which went on to sweep the top Oscars and grossed $272 million worldwide.)
Lecter, by the way, was named the second greatest villain of all time, just behind Star Wars' Darth Vader and ahead of Psycho's Norman Bates per a 2002 poll conducted by the Online Film Critics Society.
A Fine Young "Hannibal"
By Josh Grossberg
Forget the Chianti and fava beans--at this rate, we're going to get a movie featuring Hannibal Lecter chasing his meals with grape juice and jellybeans.
Yes, everybody's favorite cannibal may live to dine another day if Dino De Laurentiis gets his way, as the legendary Hollywood producer revealed at the Cannes Film Festival that Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris is plotting out the nefarious chowhound's early years for a new prequel titled The Lecter Variation: The Story of Young Hannibal Lecter.
Harris has written the story for the producer and is likely to write the screenplay himself as well as a book. The title refers to Bach's Goldberg Variations which have been a recurring musical reference in the Lecter saga to date.
De Laurentiis told Screen International that he's prepping this latest film, which will follow Lecter from his childhood growing up in Lithuania during World War II through those terrible teens spent in Paris, until he finally emigrated to the United States in his early twenties.
"Lecter was born into a very rich family, but the war destroyed it and killed his parents," De Laurentiis told the trade on Wednesday.
The Lecter Variation has the potential of being a truly scary flick--not for any onscreen mayhem, have you, but for the downright horrifying prospect of Anthony Hopkins trying to channel a twentysomething Hannibal. Of course, it's almost a foregone conclusion that the 65-year-old actor, who won an Oscar for Lambs and reprised the role in 2001's sequel Hannibal and 2002's prequel Red Dragon, will sit this one out (unless, of course, those CGI wizards decide to zap Tony's wrinkles like they did in Red Dragon and paste on pubescent pimples, a highly unlikely prospect).
De Laurentiis said he will most likely look for four different actors to play Lecter at the ages of 12, 16, 20 and 25.
As for the story, De Laurentiis was typically tight-lipped, but hinted that moviegoers may finally get the quid pro quo they've always hoped for--an opportunity to get into the good doctor's head and examine his past and pains.
"He was left with his sister with whom he had a very close relationship," said the producer.
De Laurentiis is something of an expert in Lecter lore, having produced both the Ridley Scott-helmed Hannibal, which grossed more than $320 million worldwide, and Brett Ratner's Red Dragon, which tallied more than $268 million in global box-office receipts.
De Laurentiis was also the first to adapt Harris' evil creation for the big screen in 1986's Michael Mann-directed dud Manhunter, an earlier incarnation of Red Dragon that starred CSI's William Petersen and Brian Cox in a limited role as Hannibal the Cannibal. (That film's poor performance at the box office led De Laurentiis to pass on The Silence of the Lambs, which went on to sweep the top Oscars and grossed $272 million worldwide.)
Lecter, by the way, was named the second greatest villain of all time, just behind Star Wars' Darth Vader and ahead of Psycho's Norman Bates per a 2002 poll conducted by the Online Film Critics Society.
So, what do we all think of the idea? I take it as a good sign that Thomas Harris will be 100% behind the story.
Comments
De Laurentiis told Screen International that he's prepping this latest film, which will follow Lecter from his childhood growing up in Lithuania during World War II through those terrible teens spent in Paris, until he finally emigrated to the United States in his early twenties.
Well, that would certainly explain the English accent.