USA: "HANNIBAL" THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO "THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS", IS PREMIERED IN NEW YORK.

Record ID: 390818

  • Title: USA: "HANNIBAL" THE LONG-AWAITED SEQUEL TO "THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS", IS PREMIERED IN NEW YORK.
  • Date: 3rd February 2001
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 3, 2001) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) ANTHONY HOPKINS SAYING Over the years, over the last ten years I've been asked by people, you know, when are you going to do the next one? I said, I have no idea. Ask Tom Harris, he's the writer. So, it's all beyond my expectations. I never expect anything anyway. I just, ask nothing
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAESYVQ7K8E33NGCOAZ7PHDBL19
  • Story Text: Ten years after the Oscar-winning thriller "Silence of the Lambs" introduced much of the world to the diabolical evil of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins attended the World Premiere of its sequel, "Hannibal," on Monday, February 5 in New York.
    Once again, Hopkins plays the brilliant yet unspeakably evil Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a diabolical serial killer whose trademark is his habit of eating his victims. At the end of "Silence of the Lambs," he escapes from imprisonment and the new film picks up ten years later.
    Sitting this one out is Jodie Foster, who won an Oscar for playing FBI agent Clarice Starling. After a painstaking and very public casting process, the filmmakers settled on twice Oscar-nominated actor Julianne Moore to pick up the role.
    The film starts out with Starling's career in jeopardy because of a botched drug bust. Her turmoil draws the attention of Lecter, who is currently living in semi-retirement in Florence, Italy.
    Also figuring into the plot is the horribly disfigured millionaire Mason Verger, Lecter's sixth victim who survived his encounter with the cannibal only to lead a life of misery sustained by state-of-the-art medical equipment. Although barely recognizable and not credited, Gary Oldman spends the film under loads of prosthetics as the bitter man of wealth.
    It is Verger who propels the plot to capture, humiliate and destroy Lecter, first by offering a reward to an opportunistic Italian police detective played by Italian screen veteran Giancarlo Giannini, and later by convincing Starling's boss at the FBI, played by Ray Liotta, to use her as bait to lure Lecter out of hiding.
    Also new to the series is director Ridley Scott, currently basking in praise and multiple award nominations for his work on last summer's hit "Gladiator." Scott filled the director's chair after "Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme turned down the chance to reprise his role.
    As with the first film, "Hannibal" is based on the best-selling novel by author Thomas Harris, who waited almost ten years to pen a follow-up tale featuring Lecter and Starling. While the film contains many of the book's controversial and graphic scenes of gore, it does deviate from the novel at several points, most notably in the ending.
    Expected to be the first blockbuster of 2001, "Hannibal"
    opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, February 9.
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