peter webber Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Today, on this May the 29th, curious moviegoers can flop themselves onto their couches, chew on some popcorn and see just what it was that made Hannibal Lecter so crazy, because the unrated Hannibal Rising DVD has just come out. Now, this is a film that I avoided in the theater. Critic friends, actors and movie fans alike told me not to bother; however, presented with the opportunity to review the DVD, I figured it was my perfect chance to see it. My expectations were low, but my curiosity was high -- I always wonder what happens off-screen, and I was always curious about what made Lecter such a cold and calculated murderer.

Seeing Hannibal Rising is like excitedly strapping yourself in to a roller coaster and slowly creeping up to the summit, your mind full of exciting, twisting, corkscrewing possibilities, only to hit the peak and find out that there is no drop, but just a slightly-slanted plateau. The beginning of the film is both beautifully shot and deeply disturbing. We're taken into the turmoil of World War II, and see how a rich, healthy and happy family can at once be destroyed by a cruel twist of fate. As you watch what happens to the young Hannibal, you can't help but cringe, because it's truly terrible, but in that way that your mind can comprehend. It's not some big imagined King Kong, but a real and possible menace.

If you've never seen Dino De Laurentiis in person, you're really missing something. The legendary 87-year old producer commanded the stage at this week's junket for Hannibal Rising, arriving at the table with his younger, blonde wife beside him, and eventually getting as many questions from the press as the stars of the film. When he told the assembled journalists that this film was his idea, and that he called author Thomas Harris and wore him down until Harris agreed to write it, it seemed entirely believable. This is the fourth Hannibal Lecter adventure, and instead of being sheepish about that, De Laurentiis went on at length about how this is only the beginning. He views the Lecter franchise as one that can be as durable as James Bond, with new actors taking over as it goes on from year to year. Whether that happens, of course, will depend entirely on how Hannibal Rising does at the box office.

Also on hand for the press day were director Peter Webber, of Girl With the Pearl Earring, and the film's stars, French newcomer Gaspar Ulliel, who plays the young Hannibal Lecter, and Chinese star Gong Li, who listened to and answered questions entirely through a Chinese-English translator who sat beside her. Here's a sampling of what went on during the brief press conference:

Dino De Laurentiis

Cinematical: Dino, did this project begin with Anthony Hopkins saying no to doing a fourth Hannibal film? "Not at all. I can tell you the story. When I did the promotion all around the world for Hannibal and Red Dragon, everybody asked me 'Dino, we need to know when and where Hannibal Lecter started.' I don't give it much attention. But then I receive so much mail in a few years, with the same question, and I come to the conclusion that the audience wants to see the beginning of life for Hannibal Lecter. Anthony Hopkins, seventeen years old? We need a boy, nineteen years old. Ha! Now, I start to say 'maybe this is an idea, to create a new franchise, with a new story, and tell the audience how Hannibal Lecter started. It was not so easy a problem. My first call to Tom Harris, he said 'Dino, really, I don't know...' To make the story short, little by little, I convinced Tom Harris to create a new story. He says 'okay, Dino, I can put down a twenty page outline. If you like it and we are in sync, then I do a book and a script.' He sends me the twenty page outline and it was fantastic. I said 'Tom, let's proceed.' Then he started to do the book and the script -- sometimes he had to stop the book and go to the script, because of priorities and vice-versa -- this is the way the picture started.

Okay, I have a question for anyone who has ever attended a test screening: When they give out those survey cards at the beginning of the film, is it mentioned anywhere that upon leaving the screening you must immediately write up a review and send it to AICN? Now, the last test screening I attended (The Brothers Grimm about two years ago), there was nothing about AICN anywhere on the card. Maybe things have changed since then? Or maybe AICN secretly has thousands of people working for them? Conspiracy? I think maybe.

Anyway, it looks like the latest Hannibal Lector film, Hannibal Rising, is beginning the test screening process and, whaddya know, someone saw the film and wrote to AICN with a mini review. And, whaddya know, they absolutely loved the freaking thing. I mean, "We were riveted from the start to the finish" sounds pretty positive, don't ya think? For those of you who fell off the Lector train following Brett Ratner's horrific Mahnunter remake, Red Dragon (and I don't blame you), the cannibalistic serial killer is back ... and this time he's a kid! That's right, they're going all retro Hannibal with this one, beginning with the death of his parents during World War II and ending right before he's captured by FBI agent Will Graham (see: Manhunter and Red Dragon). The review doesn't give too much away, but beware -- there are a few spoilers.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, this is the first Hannibal-related film that novelist Thomas Harris has adapted himself, and so that could either be very good or very bad (I'm leaning toward the former). However, there's no Anthony Hopkins and we have a director (Peter Webber) helming only his second feature film. What do you think about another Hannibal film? Has the franchise run its course, or is there still more of a story to tell?