The Gory Details

Image credit: Hannibal: Phil Bray

All About

Hannibal (Movie - 2001)

Get the latest photos, news, and more

SPOILER ALERT! If you don't want to know what -- or who -- is on Lecter's menu, skip the following paragraph.

So, yes, someone gets gutted like a mackerel. And yeah, Lecter does play some icky head games with Ray Liotta's Justice Department agent Paul Krendler -- a trick that required CGI F/X and a $70,000 Liotta puppet. ''It's done in very good taste,'' deadpans Scott. Adds Liotta: ''It was gross. It made me gag. But then I realized it's Anthony Hopkins, Hannibal Lecter, eating me! That is so f---in' cool!''

Maybe, but in a climate in which Senate committees target movie misdeeds, it could also be perilous. ''The violence is a concern,'' admits producer Martha De Laurentiis. ''My daughter is 12 and all her school chums are saying 'I can't wait to see ''Hannibal!''' But as a parent, I can't be taking a 12 year old to a movie like this.''

''We didn't have problems with the MPAA [which gave 'Hannibal' an R rating] or the test audiences,'' says Chris McGurk, MGM's vice chairman and COO. ''We got big uccchhhs, but that's why people go to these movies. Our research shows people remember the first movie and want more.'' MGM will release the film on Feb. 9, almost 10 years to the day since ''Silence'' hit theaters, and hopes to give ''Hannibal'' two weekends without serious competition. ''And it isn't just for males over 30 or females under 20,'' he says. ''All demographic groups are interested.''

Still, it's hard not to think of ''Hannibal'' as the kid following a sibling who not only was class president and starting quarterback but got all the girls, too. ''['Silence' is] unbelievably popular. People remember where they were when they saw it,'' says star Julianne Moore, from the L.A. set of the Ivan Reitman comedy ''Evolution.'' ''Grips, other parents, people who don't ask me about work, inquire about it. Anticipation is greater than I realized.'' But the shadow cast by ''Silence'' won't be a problem, insists Martha De Laurentiis. ''This movie has a very different tone. Of course anticipation is huge, it's 'Hannibal.' He is Obi Wan Kenobi. He's in the vernacular of film history.''

Indeed, the success of the sequel all comes down to the appeal of that elegant, predatory psychiatrist. ''Hannibal is interesting because he's a sociopath, but an educated, articulate, affluent sociopath,'' says Moore. ''He is the monster everyone wishes they could be.''

Scott has his own theory. ''I don't want to glorify him, but take Jeffrey Dahmer,'' says the director, now prepping ''Black Hawk Down,'' about an ill fated 1993 battle during the U.S. intervention in Somalia. ''I saw the police photographs to prepare for 'Hannibal.' And looking at those you're forced to think of a hand foraging under a rib cage for organs -- in a kitchen, which has a refrigerator, stove, and f---ing Coca Cola. It takes you into the darkest zones of humanity. And that's what fascinates people about Hannibal. They want to know: What makes these people tick?''

That may be a common line, but the allure is lost on the man behind the mask. ''The reaction to Lecter has always puzzled me. I don't feel uneasy about it, but it is odd. The man is completely crazy,'' says Hopkins. ''It was no big deal to step back into him. There was no thunder and lightning. But I think audiences may feel differently about him when they see [what he does in] this movie.''