Hannibal

Deadline:

French film studio Gaumont has become the latest foreign production company to establish a U.S. outpost and tap a seasoned U.S. TV executive to run it. Gaumont today announced today the launch of Gaumont International Television, an independent studio based in Los Angeles, designed to produce drama and comedy television programming for the U.S. and international markets. Former NBC head of drama Katie O’Connell will run the company as CEO, with Sony Pictures TV business exec Richard Frankie tapped as COO. GIT also announced its first two projects that will be taken to MIPCOM next month: Hannibal, a one-hour drama series written by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, and Madame Tussaud, a six-hour miniseries written by The Tudors creator Michael Hirst.

Hannibal will explore the early relationship of Thomas Harris’ signature character, renowned psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lector, and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler named Will Graham, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers. Fuller is executive producing with Martha De Laurentiis who has produced three Hannibal Lector features: Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising.

Youve got to be fucking kidding me. There's no way Hannibal could work in a serialized structure, it would all become very old, very quickly. There's no where to go with the story! Hannibal kills someone, Graham almost finds out but doesnt, rinse, repeat?

Isn't there already DEXTER?

Boy, they're making a meal out of this.

Give 'em a hand.

Sorry if I put my foot in my mouth.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

There's no where to go with the story! Hannibal kills someone, Graham almost finds out but doesnt, rinse, repeat?

Well, I suppose it would be less about Hannibal killing someone and more about him serving as some kind of mentor figure to Graham pre-capture. The focus, then, would be on the murderer of the episode/month/season than on Lecter himself. Still, I don't see much interesting ground to cover here.

And who the heck would you cast as Lecter, anyhow?

I like the films but I'd rather watch "Dexter."

Harmsway wrote:

Deadline:

French film studio Gaumont has become the latest foreign production company to establish a U.S. outpost and tap a seasoned U.S. TV executive to run it. Gaumont today announced today the launch of Gaumont International Television, an independent studio based in Los Angeles, designed to produce drama and comedy television programming for the U.S. and international markets. Former NBC head of drama Katie O’Connell will run the company as CEO, with Sony Pictures TV business exec Richard Frankie tapped as COO. GIT also announced its first two projects that will be taken to MIPCOM next month: Hannibal, a one-hour drama series written by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, and Madame Tussaud, a six-hour miniseries written by The Tudors creator Michael Hirst.

Hannibal will explore the early relationship of Thomas Harris’ signature character, renowned psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lector, and his patient, a young FBI criminal profiler named Will Graham, who is haunted by his ability to empathize with serial killers. Fuller is executive producing with Martha De Laurentiis who has produced three Hannibal Lector features: Hannibal, Red Dragon and Hannibal Rising.

I remember that on CBn quite recently (just before this news broke, it must have been) we were discussing how Lecter might be revived. I must say that I never anticipated that they'd do it this way. It really does sound as boring as heck.

Also, since when was Will Graham a patient of Lecter's? Am I forgetting something from the novel?

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Lecter only really works A. when he's played by Hopkins (yeah, Brian Cox was all well and good, but the "iconic" Lecter - the Connery-as-Bond Lecter, if you like - is unquestionably Sir Anthony, and B. when Clarice is also involved in the story. Otherwise, he's basically just another serial killer - brainier than most, no doubt, but relatively uninteresting when he's not attempting simultaneously to educate Clarice and win her respect.

But what we have here seems to be, essentially, a TV miniseries prequel to RED DRAGON (easily the least of the Hopkins Lecter flicks) without even the saving grace of another Hopkins performance. Great. It sounds about as appetising as more STAR WARS in the form of a Jar Jar Binks spinoff made entirely on computers with no real elements whatsoever and even the voices computer-generated.

GIT should follow EON's lead with a complete disregard for the source material. Lecter should be played by Whoopi Goldberg or Helen Mirren.

Mirren would probably do a good job...

It would add a new dynamic. Clarice could be played by Ryan Gosling.

Mads Mikkelsen is Hannibal Lecter.

I'm suddenly interested in this show.

Mikkelsen as Lecter:

Hmmm. It's just I imagine someone with more of Cox's or Hopkin's build.

I have the book with this cover...



...which makes me envision Peter Cushing.

But the casting makes the project interesting.

Mikkelsen is the only aspect of the show--so far, anyway--that seems remotely interesting. Otherwise, the show sounds like LAW & ORDER crossbred with DEXTER.

FWIW, I think Mikkelsen's wardrobe is a little too ostentatious for Hannibal Lecter.

To my mind, Lecter should be the James Bond of serial killers, meaning that if any member of the CASINO ROYALE cast ought to be playing him it's Craig (which I realise was probably never on the cards for this TV thing).

Does Mikkelsen have the necessary charisma for Lecter?

I'd say he should be the Blofeld of serial killers.

Loomis wrote:

To my mind, Lecter should be the James Bond of serial killers, meaning that if any member of the CASINO ROYALE cast ought to be playing him it's Craig (which I realise was probably never on the cards for this TV thing).

Does Mikkelsen have the necessary charisma for Lecter?

Heh. Didn't some of the Craig-haters comment that Mikkelsen looked more like Bond than Craig did?

Anyway, I'm sure Mikkelsen has enough charisma for the part. The bigger question is whether or not he'll have good material to work with.

Mikkelsen is fantastic.

I totally forgot about this show and neglected everything about it. Then I just found out Mikkelsen is in it and my interest skyrocketed, especially you saying he's fantastic. I'll try to catch this.

EDIT:

Just watched it. Was okay, but at times felt like any other tedious procedural crime drama with emphasis on violence. Mikkelsen was great though, I didn't care for Hugh Dancy, he's very uninteresting and when put together with Mikkelsen it's almost unfair.

I just looked up info on the series. Didn't know it had Will Graham. Plus Fishburne, his wife, and Gillian Anderson? Odd lineup.

But I didn't realize this is basically RED DRAGON BEGINS. I thought it was just some bland show about Hannibal Lector killing people. Of course, it's on NBC (the happy, cheery network) so I doubt it can be very good. This should be on HBO or something.

It really does not feel like an NBC show, thats for sure. It's definitely more dark and ballsy than I expected for them that I would be surprised if NBC didn't cancel it soon.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

This should be on HBO or something.

It almost feels like it could be. It's very dark, very grim, very violent. Unprecedentedly so for a broadcast network American TV show. You can get a taste of the show's tone with the trailer, here.

I'm not sure the show itself is altogether very good. But once Mikkelsen showed up, the show caught my interest. I'll be sticking with it, since the critics (many of which responded quite positively to the show) said that HANNIBAL picks up a few episodes in, and because I think Mikkelsen is doing terrific work here as Lecter.

It's actually a lot better than I thought it would be.

Putting Will Graham in it and making it about their relationship grounds it a lot better for me, whereas I had been afraid it was going to be "Hannibal as Dexter".

The pilot is available for free on iTunes, and in HD. Tux, get it while you can.

Python wrote:

The pilot is available for free on iTunes, and in HD. Tux, get it while you can.

Doin' it.

I think the backstory of RED DRAGON, which this series seems to be rooted in, is a great idea. More focus on Will Graham, whereas Clarice Starling has usually gotten the attention. Cna't say I'm on board with Hugh Dancy as Graham, though. Nor Fishburne as Crawford. I just imagine Morpheus. Or Tom Cruise's boss in M:I:III. Or now Perry White. He's just not right for Crawford. Crawford isn't a badass, he's a brilliant profiler with a sharp mind. Scott Glenn was dead on perfect as Crawford. Farina was fun cuz he's Farina, but he comes off as a cop (which he had been) rather than an FBI agent.