During Anthony Hopkins's whirlwind international publicity tour while millions of people went to see Hannibal in theaters, the actor seemed passionate about what would become of Lecter. He told reporters at the Berlin International film festival "I'd like to make another sequel, something that's now in discussion. I hope it'll be soon, perhaps next year." Further, our UK scooper Gary sent in a report from a TV appearance by the actor in which he described his ideas for the Hannibal sequel: "Hopkins wants a new movie with both Lecter and Clarice as the main characters again. He wants the film to end with Lecter and Clarice meeting up one on one. Clarice loves lecter but this is holding her back. There's no way they can ever be together, she is against all what he believes in. Lecter feels the same; he loves her too. Starling can only be set free by telling Lecter her feelings; Lecter can only be set free by the one person he cares for destroying him (does this mean death?). Therefore, Clarice is set free and they both can get on with their lives. But Hopkins was really saying the only way for lecter to be set free is for him to die, and who else would he want to do that................Clarice."

Up-to-the-minute news on upcoming movies!

10/5/02 -- Thanks to the great cleo (that's her site tagged on the left) for pointing us to this USA Today article which closes with the following morsel about whether or not there will be a Hannibal sequel (hey, I'm psyched; I wanna read it):

The answer may ultimately be found in Hopkins, who has written his own screenplay. His final scene is Lecter being shot to death by FBI agent Clarice Starling.

"I did write a screenplay of my own, just as an exercise, that would follow Hannibal," he says. "I showed it to Dino and to my agent and the studio. It's about Hannibal actually out there, after Hannibal. The final denouement.

"Clarice is having a nervous breakdown and living in San Francisco. Then the nightmares start. She sees him on street corners, and he vanishes in the crowd. Then one night she wakes up in her bedroom and she's handcuffed to her bed, and he's in the corner smoking a cigar, and he says, 'Hello, Clarice ...' "

9/27/02 -- As we continue to wonder if there will be a Hannibal sequel, the very cool new scooper John Nestore writes in the following:

Last night, Entertainment Tonight ran a quick behind-the-scenes thing on Red Dragon?they had a brief interview with Anthony Hopkins, who said,

"If they came up with a fantastic script, maybe- I just keep it open"

Just thought you'd be interested in that tidbit

What a tease! Thanks, John! Keep em coming!

9/20/02 -- Lately, Anthony Hopkins has been quoted as saying that Red Dragon may be his last appearance as Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter, but our eagle-eyed scooper Monika has a different take:

I've found something in an VARIETY article about MGM and Universal Pictures: "MGM will have only passive participation in the upcoming "Red Dragon" sequel to the Hannibal Lecter franchise, in return for a 5% bite on first-dollar grosses and an "in association with" credit. And if any further projects come out of either company's existing rights to the "cannibal Hannibal" franchise, the other side gets to join in co-financing the film." So...there's still the chance of a sequel.I don't believe this rumours about Hopkins. He also said the same about RED DRAGON last year. And he did it. Thanks, Monika!

7/27/02 -- Wow! This is juicy. I'm posting all of Darla's email so you'll have the context, but it's some much needed info about that mysterious sequel, which we'll now call Hannibal 4: Shades of Decay. Here's Darla...

I was browsing through magazines at Borders today and picked up one from the UK called HotDog. Said they had an exclusive on Hannibal 4 - Shades of Decay. I try to read it and they have part of it written so you have to hold it up in a mirror to read it. Damned if I could find a mirror or anything else reflective enough in that store. So, I had to plunk down $6.95 for it. Argh, too much for a magazine, IMHO. Still it is a nice magazine, though.

Here's what the article said: "Hello, Clarice..." By the time Brett Ratner's ultra-scary Red Dragon hits the screens - with an unrecognizable tattoo-covered and prosthetic-drenched Ralph Fiennes nearly stealing the chill factor from a viciously honed and toned Anthony Hopkins - a final outing for Dr. Lecter will be near-complete as a script following directly from last year's Hannibal finale. Based on ideas from Thomas Harris, Shades of Decay has the good Doctor politely requesting that Clarice Starling end his life for him. With story input from Hopkins and Ridley Scott more than interested in calling the shots, the only query hangs over the casting of Clarice...Jodie Foster nearly cameoed in Red Dragon, so could Julianne Moore have to relinquish the role?

Darla

5/23/02 -- no sooner do we have the ultra-cool Red Dragon teaser poster than this interesting report shows up on Aint It Cool News. It's spoilerific, though, so don't read if you don't want to know! Many thanks to scooper Monica for alerting us!!

Hey Harry,

I have information about the sequel to "HANNIBAL." I'm really upset about the crap that was published on CHUD in January! I think his name was Winston Wolf, right? No sentence of the "story details" was true. NOTHING. I think there are too much people who are bored and invent something. That's annoying. O.K., here is a summary of all details I know so far (SPOILERS!):

This will be the last Hannibal flick. The final chapter. Both Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore will play the lead roles again, but there will be also a second FBI agent who hunts our "hero". But that's not all... Will Graham/Edward Norton will return as well, in a cameo. There's a structural parallel to SILENCE: Clarice contacts a maniac.

Here comes the spoilers... [swipe space belowto read!]

The maniac is Will Graham!

He didn't kill anybody, but he was very, very close. He went too far. She has one conversation with him in a clinic. The FBI agent I mentioned before is a completely new character, and he has an affair with Clarice. I was also told that there?ll be a sex scene, during which Hannibal observes them. He's jealous and, even worse, he gets ANGRY. Blood and guts included. Unfortunately, nothing was said about the ending.

1/2/02 -- Now, a new rumor is circulating that should be noted here [Note: This is the one just discredited above!]. I'll give you the full email From WinstonWolf, whose information was also reported on CHUD and Dark Horizons. Many thanks to the great scoopers Suzanne, TonysGirl and the lovely Helene (who called CAA to talk to Tony's reps and learned that they hadn't heard anything about it) for pointing out the chud story. We'll stay on top of this rumor!

From WinstonWolf CAUTION: SPOILERS!:

Here are some facts and rumours about Ridley Scott?s follow-up to Hannibal.A friend of mine has good contacts to ?somebody? and here?s an excerpt from his mail (Fri Dec 20,2001 8:43 pm):

?(?)and I?ve got some information about the Hannibal sequel.Its working title is really ?Hannibal Returns?,and Ridley Scott will direct and produce this flick.He and Dino DeLaurentis are actually discussing the subject ?VIOLENCE? ,because DeLaurentis doesn?t want trouble with the MPAA again (they had to cut several scenes in ?Hannibal?,e.g. the shots where Mason Verger?s guys are eaten by the pigs.)I?m not sure how their agreement will look like,but I can?t imagine a PG-13 rating for the sequel. About the cast?guess?Yeah,Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore,of course.Other cast members aren?t announced yet,just because there isn?t even a script!Zaillan and Anthony had a few meetings this spring,and I?ve heard that after the shooting of ?Red Dragon?, they want to discuss concrete ideas.?

And in his last mail (Mon Dec 29, 2001 9:15 pm) he wrote:

?(?)This could be the story for ?Hannibal Returns?.It isn?t confirmed,but I really trust the guy who told me about it.O.K.,it?s not the whole story,just some details,but it sounds cool. Almost the whole movie is told in flashbacks.At the beginning there?s the execution of somebody,but it?s not sure if this person is Lecter.FLASHBACK.Then Clarice Starling is introduced.There are rumours that she is hunting a second serial killer(like in SOTL) and this killer would be even more cruel than Lecter.Sounds like a fight between them.Wow.That?s it,I can?t say anything more,I?m sorry.?

If I know anything new,I'll tell you. Thanks WinstonWolf! Please keep us posted if you hear anything more!

The following are our earlier reports on the sequel idea:

These are Coming Attractions' items for the untitled Hannibal sequel:

March 14, 2001... So they're both happening? Well, get out your grain of salt and read on...

"First of all I would like to excuse myself for my English, because I�m writting from Uruguay. I have to tell you first that THIS IS NOT A RUMOR, I SAW THE INTERVIEW MYSELF.

"Last week I saw an interview with Dino de Laurentis, he was telling the Argentinian interviewer that they were going to make both films. He said that both Anthony Hopkins and Ridley Scott expressed they wanted to participate in the 'untitled fourth Hannibal project.' He also said that Hopkins was going to be Hannibal in Red Dragon too, because he said that everyone wanted to know how Hannibal was caught for the first time, and who did it. At the end of the interview, the interviewer wanted to confirm the information and asked De Laurentis if both Scott and Hopkins were confirmed for both films, but De Laurentis said that they were both confirmed for the 'untitled fourth Hannibal project,' and that Hopkins was also confirmed for Red Dragon, but they were going to look for a suitable director for this film, because Scott was not going to direct it.

"Dino De Laurentis didn�t said which one was first, but he first mentioned Red Dragon, I don�t know what that means."[Mart�n Coitinho, we're not sure either at times.]

March 21, 2001... Variety, when going over the Hannibal phenom (which has made $400 million to date worldwide thus far), mentions that Hopkins and scribe Steve Zaillian are tossing around ideas for this pic--without waiting on another book sequel from Harris. [Originally appeared in Variety.]

March 27, 2001... In the completely unsubstantiated pile, The Nemesis tells us that the working title Zaillian and Hopkins are tossing around is Hannibal Returns. No doubt the next one would be Hannibal Forever then. Wait, we've used that joke before...

03/01/01 -- Glad to know Garth is hot on the Red Dragon/Sequel beat. Here's a report from today's Dark Horizons. Thanks as always to cleo for showing the way!

Red Dragon: Another report adding to the confusion came in today. Hopkins was on Radio 5 in the UK and 'Jules' has this summary of what he said: "In the interview the interviewer ask him about the rumours of a reshoot of Red Dragon, possibly using a computer to make him look younger. His reply was that Manhunter was a great film and Brian Cox (? - question mark is mine, not Hopkins - I can't remember if I've gotten the name right!) played the role of Lecter very well. As far as Hopkins was concerned there was no point in going over old ground especially since they had done such a good job in Manhunter. He was more interested in filming a sequel to Hannibal, stating that rather than going back over Lecters past he wanted to take the character further. He gave the impression he REALLY likes the character and would like to take his story further. He also stated that he has come up with some ideas himself for the sequel and passed them on to the producers for consideration. Hopkins mentioned the idea of a sequel several times and the interviewer also stated in her closing remarks that a sequel (NOT prequel) was practically all he talked about and he was very keen on the idea".

2/22/01 -- Berlin Film Festival article:

Anthony Hopkins ready for new Hannibal Lecter film

BERLIN, 13 (AP) - Anthony Hopkins has not yet gotten tired of playing Hannibal Lecter, the cannibal killer of the film ?Silence of the Lambs? and its sequel ?Hannibal.?

?I?d like to make another sequel, something that?s now in discussion,? said the actor at the International Festival of Cinema in Berlin, after the showing of Hannibal this weekend at the festival, but outside competition.

?I hope it?ll be soon, perhaps next year,? he declared.

The film collected a total of 58 million dollars this weekend at the box offices of the United States and Canada.

Hopkins said that the attraction the public has for a character like Hannibal comes from the inner conflict inherent to being human.

?We?re fascinated by the latent evil there is in all of us,? he said. ?It?s part of our mechanism, the duality of our minds, that has a good side and a bad side.?

?Hannibal Lecter represents the same paradox of human nature,? he concluded.

Thanks to the great cleolinda!

2/18/01 -- This report comes in from our cool UK scooper, Gary:

"I watched Sir Anthony Hopkins on a British TV show on Sky One UK on friday 16th. The show was Barry Norman's film night, and it was devoted to Hannibal, it lasted 30 mins and had an interview with Hopkins, Hopkins was talking about future Lecter movies. He said he didnt like the idea of a Manhunter remake, but wanted to do a follow up to Hannibal. This is Hopkins' idea for the movie, the way he said it. Hopkins wants a new movie with both Lecter and Clarice as the main characters again. He wants the film to end with Lecter and Clarice meeting up one on one. Clarice loves lecter but this is holding her back. There's no way they can ever be together, she is against all what he believes in. Lecter feels the same; he loves her too. Starling can only be set free by telling Lecter her feelings; Lecter can only be set free by the one person he cares for destroying him (does this mean death?). Therefore, Clarice is set free and they both can get on with there lives. But Hopkins was really saying the only way for lecter to be set free is for him to die, and who else would he want to do hat................Clarice." Thanks, Gary!

2/12/01 -- From Empire.co.uk:

Robert from Caltanet wrote in with this report from the Berlin Film Festival, which mentions both Red Dragon and the sequel:

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, but they are also planning to make a sequel. 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).

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