Father Geek here with a mid week update from our Euro-offices in Paris, France. Edgard, our man on the ground there, has put together parts of interviews from France, Italy, and Germany to paint a gruesome portrait of HANNIBAL, plus there's other info as well from Ireland.

Hey folks... Edgard here with a special mid-week Euro AICN edition... I just received two reports on HANNIBAL... as it's a really hot movie right now I decided not to wait and to deliver everything to you... First there's an interview sent by Grozilla, as I received it in French forgive if the translation is not totally accurate... don't think it's Anthony Hopkins who smoke a joint, it's just me who translated everything quickly... Then there's also a report from our Italian super spy Roberto who confirms the work on another Hannibal Lecter film... I also added a few new I received this week... one cool link to the first teaser of VIDOCQ (first film entirely shot in digital camera; before Episode 2 !!); then some Irish news on "Time Machine", Neil Jordan and GANGS OF NEW YORK (spoilers alert !!)...

HANNIBAL

From Grozilla :

Here's what was said during the Paris press conference for the excellent HANNIBAL (Hopkins; Scott; DeLaurentiis)....

* Is it easy to build a franchise around a character like Hannibal, who exists more for what he represents (the dark side of everybody) than as a physical character ?

Dino DeLaurentiis : There's always a wrong idea on the origin of films : at the beginning, it's not money we need but ideas. If you have the good idea in your hands, money will follow by itself, no matter from where. I produced more than one hundred films, and I can guarantee you that the only thing we are looking for is the good idea. It's the essence, the heart of a film.

Martha DeLaurentiis : You must not forget that Hannibal's character was born in the Thomas Harris novels, which are very popular. When SILENCE OF THE LAMBS became a success, people started to have expectations for the third book around this character. You should not see HANNIBAL as a sequel, but more as another moment, another act in this character's life.

Anthony Hopkins : Many journalists asked me if I was fascinated by Hannibal. My answer was to ask them that same question, to know if they were fascinated by him. Apparently women are really fascinated by him, but have some trouble assuming it because of somekind of shame being attracted by the monstrosity of this character. For me, there's no reason to be ashamed as this attraction is the symbol of human paradoxes. He's a man from the Renaissance : very cultured, intellectual genius, aesthete, a real artist. I don't know how much it was wanted on purpose, but it was a great idea from Thomas Harris to set the story in Florence - which incarnates perfectly the dichotomy between good and evil. It's also perfectly representative of the Renaissance period, while it was also there that took place huge blood baths, between the Borgia, the Savonaroles,... I think that Hannibal is in fact prisoner of his own psyche, of his own talents. In that way, he's very close of other mythical figures such as the Phantom of the Opera or Quasimodo; characters who are at the same time the light and the darkness, or Beauty and the Beast... As we are all in a certain way. This is why I often ask journalists about him not to try being clever, guessing what's behind, but instead to try seeing what he can reveal in them. I don't think people should be ashamed to like this character. Not more that they should be if they like getting scared in a roller coaster or watching JAWS. It is normal to enjoy having your senses stimulated by things or images looking dangerous. This is one of the pleasures of cinema. It's the same relation that the kids have with fear.

* Ten years happened between the two films. Did your reunion with Hannibal allow you to feel an evolution in your acting and in your relation to this character during this period ?

AH : I would love to play him again today because I discovered so much about him and me since we finished the film. He's in a quest for Clarice, becoming even more protective with her. I suspect him to know about her much more than she knows about herself. I always have been intrigued by his status of psychoanalyst; the fact he lets her question him, while taking pleasure giving her some clues on the way she could set him free. In HANNIBAL, I think he's looking first to show her how she could be free of herself, with tests she has to accomplish. Especially during the diner sequence, where his goal is to show her the absolute terror about being prisoner of yourself. What he does by showing the darkest part of the human soul. But always with irony - which I tried to show in a playful way before the scariest parts. A bit like the way we play with kids.

* In what way this humorous side - indeed very present in the film - could go against the sense of credibility ?

Ridley Scott : This alternation between humour and fear was already in the book. We tried to stay faithful to this tone, because it allows to discover the keys to the characters. The readers of the novel reacted particularly on the horrible parts of it, when for me it's only a surface. This aspect entertained me but also it allowed me to understand the other aspects of the book.

* The detractors might complain that you changed deliberately some important parts from the book, like for example the ending...

R.S. : When I read "Hannibal", I always thought that Thomas had ideas for another book which would give the outcome of the relation between Hannibal and Clarice. And when I met him he told me that "Silence..." and "Hannibal" create a unity, linked by a subtext : he wanted that the two characters get reunited, end up together. I then understood a few things that I missed at my first reading - or that for me were lacking of sense in that context - I had especially the feeling that the end was taking a shortcut, that it didn't make sense. If there's another book, I think it will revolve only around Hannibal's will to convince Clarice to look like him, to put herself in his condition. When we adapted the book, we knew that we could not keep the 600 pages, that we would leave things behind. About the ending, I had the feeling that a few things were a bit too much to be accepted by the public. Thomas never complained about it. We choose the actual ending, with this post-scriptum scene because we were looking for a way to let Hannibal show his true nature, his true feelings. But first it had to go through a demonstration of affection for her, translated in the choice he makes at the end.

* In the book, Hannibal has often the aspect of a victim. Why did you erase that in the film ?

R.S. : It holds in the conception of a script from a novel. What choices should we make ? What characters should you lose to go from a 600 pages book to a 110 pages script ? It was the first task of Steven Zaillian, one of the scriptwriter, to know what we should sacrifice. Thomas perfectly understood that problem and even helped us to get rid of a few things while keeping the fundamental themes of his book. Does Mason Verger (Gary Oldman in the film)'s sister has an influence on the relation between Clarice and Hannibal ? No. Then you get rid of her. Also it was a relief not to include in the film all the violent scenes of the book.

* Hannibal haunts Clarice in a recurrent way. What are your own recurrent nightmares ?

A.H. : Not knowing my text. I often dream I am on stage, I lost my shoes and I don't remember at all my text. Maybe it's a subconscious alert that I try to exorcise by working hard on my dialogues.

* You have announced several time the end of your carreer. What does mean today your desire to be an actor ?

A.H : It's my job. I have never said I was quitting my job. In fact, I just took a year off before working on HANNIBAL. I feel, I think, the same pleasure to act as Ridley does directing or Dino producing. These are exciting adventures, a new challenge every time.

* There's already talk about a third film that would be a new adaptation - after Michael Mann's - of "Red Dragon", the first novel with Hannibal Lecter.

D.DeL : Let me tell you what I think about Hannibal Lecter's character. It's probably the last mythical character in cinema. Which is weird as he's a serial killer. But he keeps fascinating because of his multiple sides : he has humour, sex-appeal, a lot of culture... But mostly, when he kills someone, it's someone the public would like also to kill (laughs) !!

A.H : Indeed I talked with Ridley, Dino and Martha, about a possible third film. Of course, I am ready to read the script they'll give me. Nonetherless the promotion of this film forced me to analyze even more Hannibal's character; and as Thomas Harris takes a long time to write a book, I gave them some of my ideas. In my opinion, Hannibal is the archetype of the hero, a dark hero, but still a hero. Clarice is also the model heroine of this new millenium : she takes things in hands, she faces a challenge : destroy Hannibal. In a way, he represents the male power, the male domination. She's a warrior; like Hannibal she has a mythical side. And it's probably because of her strength he loves her. In SILENCE OF THE LAMBS he threw her in a Labyrinth where she must face a Minotaure. If there's a third story, it will revolve around a double liberation : now that Hannibal revealed her to her dark side, she must not only set herself free from it but also she must free him from his condition. Hannibal is fascinating because he's linked to death and some taboos that our repressed time refuses. Today we are all politically correct in our deny of death. This is what makes us more and more mortal : not being able to be free of the fear of death. Lecter understands that better than anyone else, thanks to his past of brillant psychoanalyst. Instead of letting Clarice get comfortable on a couch, he prefers to take her out and to make her follow him so she can get the opportunity to destroy the darkness. Even if he represents that darkness. At least this is my idea for the third act.

From Roberto :

Hi. Yesterday Hannibal was presented at the Berlin Film Festival out of competition. At the Press conference, there were the actors Anthony Hopkins and Giancarlo Giannini, the producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis and the composer Hans Zimmer. Of course, everyone was thrilled by the U.S. box office. So, they spoke a little about Red Dragon. Of course, De Laurentiis was impatient to start with Red Dragon. He said the movie will be a remake of Manhunter. He also talked about the possibility of making another film. He explained his will to remake Manhunter by saying the audience wants to know something more about the origins of the famous Doctor.

Considering the small role Hannibal Lecter has in Manhunter (and in the book) I think they'll insert some flashbacks in a modern story, which will follow the events seen in Hannibal. Of course, This is just my opinion, but it could explain Dino De Laurentiis words. And what about Anthony Hopkins and Ridley Scott? Hopkins said he'll decide whether to play or not Hannibal Lecter once more after reading the script (Ted Tally is still working on it, as De Laurentiis confirmed). But De Laurentiis seemed very confident about the Anthony Hopkins presence and in fact it seems very strange that he would refuse a lot of money (probably more than twenty millions dollars).

Ridley Scott wasn't in Berlin, but a few days ago he said in Rome (where he presented the movie) that he's very interested to do it. De Laurentiis also said that very soon there will be a meeting to persuade the people involved in Hannibal to be part in Red Dragon and to decide what kind of story this will be.

Full coverage at : Our Site , its in English too.

Bye

Robert Bernocchi

FRANCE

* A short, but interesting teaser you should check out. It's for the french film VIDOCQ starring Gerard Depardieu and Guillaume
Canet. It's kind of a crime thriller set in 1830 and directed by Pitof, who's a special effects specialist (Alien Resurection, City of Lost Children...). Here's the link: Right Here

IRELAND

* Don't know if you caught CITV Saturday morning. Samantha Mumba was on. When asked about Time Machine she said that she was going for a 2nd screentest this week and that she should find out next week. She also said though that Time machine was a book she loved written by "Orson" Wells......

Hoopy Frood

* Irish film director Neil Jordan has confirmed he is to make three films after a slight spell in retirement when he told
ShowBizIreland.com that he was writing a novel. Now, the director has secured the rights to not just his current project, The Gambler with Nick Nolte which Jordan told us is starting to film in France next month. But, he has also plans to tie down the film which until now was only a rumour...

* ShowBizIreland.com has seen the final draft of the script of Martin Scorsese's new film The Gangs of New York. In the movie the story starts with Irish actor Liam Neeson playing the role of Leoardo DiCaprio's father. Neeson plays Priest Vallon and is killed off in the first few scenes of the movie by the Irish based actor Daniel Day-Lewis who plays Bill "The Butcher" Poole...

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