I was privileged enough to be able to purchase a copy of Steven Zaillian�s rewrite of the upcoming sequel to �Silence of the Lambs�. As most of the people reading this know, David Mamet was originally hired to write the script, but his draft got rejected because, quite frankly, as I�ve heard it said, it stunk. Well, not so much stunk, it just did not go in the direction anybody involved with the film wanted it to go in. Originally, however, Dino De Laurentiis, the producer, did ask Steven Zaillian to do the script, but he declined. After Dino came back to Steven and asked him to do it once more, he couldn�t refuse. What resulted is an intelligent, dark, moody thriller that has more dialogue than action � this is a plus. Thus, the action that occurs has merit and reason, making the scenes all the more powerful.
I won�t go into the plot details or tell you step by step what happens in the script because most people want to be surprised. I will commit, however, that at least the opening sequence stays entirely loyal to the book. (I have only read the first few chapters, then put the book down because I wanted to devour the script. J ) The script opens very quickly and thrusts you right into the action, not taking long with descriptions or slowly setting the scene, This works in the panic and rush of adrenaline that comes with the scene:
INT. PANEL VAN � DAY
Clarice Starling is dead, laid out in fatigues across a bench in the back of a ratty, rattling undercover van.
(�)
EXT. FISH MARKET & STREETS � DAY
The Macarena blares from a boom box. Snappers, artfully arranged in schools on ice, stare up blankly. Crabs scratch at their crates. Lobsters climb over one another in tanks.
Steven Zaillian does a graceful job with brief but slick scene descriptions, one of my favorite being the above. Later on in the scene, Starling encounters the �egyptian� herself, drug-carrying, HIV positive Evelda Drumgo. When Evelda fails to show her hands as Starling demands, and instead opens a piece of her clothing to reveal a weapon that strikes Starling, she (Starling) fires at Evelda as she falls down, hitting the Egyptian in the neck. She, too, goes down.
Because Starling shoots and kills a baby-carrying mother, regardless of the fact that she was a drug lord, she is frowned upon by both the FBI and the media, pictures of her cleaning off the baby shown on newspapers and the television evening news, labeling her the FBI�s �Angel of Death�. Meanwhile, and I�ll only indulge in the details sparsely, Hannibal Lecter is enjoying his life in Florence, Italy, playing the piano and teaching classes on the works of Dante Alighieri. He stumbles across an article about the �Angel of Death� and writes Clarice a letter, dropping her a hint as to his whereabouts, but only a small, small one. This is enough to intrigue her, and she begins investigating his whereabouts. She is not the only one.
Also in Florence, Inspector Pazzi is very interested in reporting Hannibal in for a very nice reward, from Hannibal�s surviving victim Mason Verger, back in the States near Clarice. He cannot move or do much of anything except sit in the shadows, the remnants of what was once his face now only teeth. Lecter made him rip his own face off.
Pretty soon at least three people are after Lecter, all for different reasons. Pazzi for the money; Verger for revenge; and Starling? It�s complicated.
Starling accesses the FBI�s private VICAP site and checks the previous users. She recognizes them all except for one entitled: �pfrancesco.� She wonders, �Could that be you, Doctor?� She is led to dialing the Questura in Italy, where she speaks with Pazzi, who is very uncomfortable speaking with her, wanting to leave to catch Lecter�s lecture. Starling is cool and poised, confronting Pazzi with the fact that he has been accessing the private VICAP files for a certain purpose. �You�re trying to catch him yourself, aren�t you, Inspector?� she says. She warns him about Hannibal�s tendencies, relating that he �killed three policemen down in Memphis, while he was in custody tearing the face off one of them � and he will kill you too if you �� but Pazzi hangs up on her.
What happens to Pazzi from there I will not say for respect of all involved in the film who wish to keep it a secret. (Although I�m sure many already know.) Starling, however, gets ahold of Lecter, one way or another, more on his terms. He leads her to a Union Station on her cell phone, taunting her, in one of the best scenes in the script. Like Silence, in this script Hannibal uses his gift for words and psychology on Clarice, touching her sore point of being swept under the rug by the FBI. Meanwhile she�s only half listening, looking around the mall, through the crowds to try and find the good Doctor. He asks her what she�ll do now that all she cared about in the world was taken from her. �Will you work as a chambermaid at a motel on Route 66, like Mom?� She moves toward a fake Santa Claus set up in a shop, moving closer toward Lecter. Nearby, the Santa Claus chants �Ho Ho Ho.� As Lecter steps through the crowd, he says to Starling, �Ho, ho, ho, indeed. I think I�ll be going now. I have some shopping to do anyway. Chin up, Clarice. Merry Christmas.� And he�s gone.
Not just any writer can capture the essence of what makes Lecter the chilling genius he is. His use of words and the way he can psycho analyze someone until they�re emotionally broken. Steven Zaillian pulls this no easy task off, and he pulls it off well, giving the plot and the script a chilling darkness and familiarity of one of film�s most menacing killers. True, this is more his story than Starling�s; she�s placed here and there throughout the script, while a majority of the script follows Hannibal (posing as Dr. Fell) and his encounters with the greedy Rinaldo Pazzi. But that�s not to say Starling�s character is underused at all. She is equally important to the story as Hannibal himself. And as the script progresses, her presence is seen much more than in the middle of the script.
There are plenty of other awesome scenes throughout the 128-page script that I would love to include here, but I don�t want to risk giving important things away to those of you who wish to be surprised. I hope the scenes I have included have not ruined anything for you, and I hope they are enough to whet your appetite until February 9th. J Steven Zaillian did a great job with this script, mostly because he stays loyal to Thomas Harris and his work, that is, except the controversial ending. I, of course, will not say what that is here, however I will say a couple things regarding the subject: First of all, the ending is not Lecter and Starling becoming lovers. Second, the ending in my script may not be the final one because of rumors of Thomas Harris showing up to rewrite the ending, as well as the fact that the cast and crew of the film shot many different endings and the stars themselves do not know which one will be chosen. That said, however, I still won�t include the ending here.
There are scripts that take very little time to read and are very simple. Then there are those like �Hannibal� that are rich in text and intelligence, and very complex, that require time and multiple readings to gather everything that is placed within its pages. It is an excellent and exciting script, and I know the film will be as well.