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Home , American Gods (season 2), Bryan Fuller, Hugh Dancy, Pushing Daisies, Red Dragon (novel), Tom Noonan

HANNIBAL was developed for television by , the creator of such series as , , and . In addition, he was a writer for Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager and .

This series is inspired by the Lecter series of written by . Thomas Harris is an American author who was born in Jackson, Tennessee, grew up in Rich, Mississippi and is a 1964 graduate of Baylor University. He covered the police beat for the Waco Tribune while still in college. From 1968-1974 he worked for the Associate Press until he began working on his first Black Sunday, which was adapted into a 1977 starring Bruce Dern and Robert Shaw.

Harris is an extremely introverted man and between 1976 and this year he did not give any interviews. His friend and literary agent Morton Janklow said of him: “ "He's one of the good guys. He is big, bearded and wonderfully jovial. If you met him, you would think he was a choirmaster. He loves cooking—he's done the Le Cordon Bleu exams—and it's great fun to sit with him in the kitchen while he prepares a meal and see that he's as happy as a clam. He has these old-fashioned manners, a courtliness you associate with the South." In his 2019 New York Times interview while promoting his latest novel Cari Mora, Harris described himself as a nature lover and is a volunteer for the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, an animal rescue center in Miami.

WITHOUT GETTING TOO FAR INTO THE SERIES AND FROM JUST THAT LITTLE BIOGRAPHICAL SNIPPET, CAN YOU SEE THOMAS HARRIS IN THE TWO MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE HANNIBAL SERIES? Hannibal draws most of its inspiration from Harris’ 1981 novel , the first to feature Dr. . The story centers around , a former profiler with the FBI who is lured out of retirement to help capture , also known as the Tooth Fairy. Lecter is a minor character in the book, and it is revealed that Graham is the man responsible for his capture and that they had a professional relationship before Lecter’s incarceration.

Red Dragon was adapted into a 1986 film titlted Manhunter, directed by of Miami Vice fame and starred as Will Graham, Tom Noonan as the Tooth Fairy and Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor, spelled in that film with a “k”. The film was not a hit upon its release but has in recent years developed a devoted cult following.

Harris’ sequel to Red Dragon, 1988’s The Silence of the Lambs, would be developed into an Oscar winning film – which we will be talking about very soon. 1999’s Hannibal and 2006’s were also developed into in 2001 and 2007 respectively. Which brings us to the series… “Aperitif” aired on April 4, 2013. It was directed by David Slade from a script by Bryan Fuller and starred as Will Graham, as Hannibal Lector and Laurence Fishburne – the Fish – as FBI agent Jack Crawford.

This episode marks the first meeting between Graham and Lector, an event that up until now had not been shown and has them teaming up to apprehend the cannibalistic serial killer that has become known as the Minnesota Shrike.

FAITH, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS EPISODE?

I’ve always thought that the Lecter novels by Thomas Harris toe the line between police procedurals and this very hypnotic, dream like state, sometime it’s a fever dream, but there’s always been more going on them than just a straight , borderline mythological.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT ANALYSIS AND DOES THIS SHOW HAVE THAT FEEL ABOUT IT? Let’s talk about the character of Will Graham, played here by Englishman Hugh Dancy, who I think is absolutely great. Graham is a very important character in the mythology of this world. He’s the man who brought down Hannibal Lecter and he pays quite the price for it in Red Dragon. Graham is very interesting here…he’s somewhere on the autism/Asperger’s scale, he’s extremely empathic and introverted as you would imagine someone in his shoes would be.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE CHARACTER TRAITS OF WILL GRAHAM, HOW INTERESTING ARE THEY TO YOU AND WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PORTRAYAL OF IN THIS EPISODE?

One of the things that I really appreciate they did with is character was showing his fondness for dogs. Besides being an extremely sweet scene with the rescue dog and the reveal that he has a whole kennel in his house I like that it shows two things. A lot of times empaths have an easier time forming bonds and connections with animals than they do with people and it also shows a great deal about his character – he’s a protector. This brings us to the flip side of Will Graham’s coin, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Lecter is introduced 22 minutes into this pilot episode. The Baltimore psychiatrist is played by Mads Mikkelsen, one of my favorites, who has been wonderful in movies such as Casino Royale, Doctor Strange and Star Wars: Rogue One. Mads has a look somewhere between Joey Tribbiani from Friends and Dolph Lundgren and he always seems like there’s a lot going on underneath the surface. He’s kind of glacial on the outside but you know there’s a volcano erupting underneath the surface. He has the very unenviable task of following as Lecter.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF MR. MIKKELSEN AS THE GOOD DOCTOR? DO YOU FEEL LIKE HE MADE THIS HIS OWN?

Like Graham, Lecter perceives EVERYTHING, yet he has more control over himself.

DO YOU SEE THESE CHARACTERS AS REPRESENTING CHAOS AND ORDER? There’s almost a superhero/supervillain relationship happening here. I was reminded of the Bruce Willis/Samuel L. Jackson relationship in Unbreakable. We talked about the two sides of Thomas Harris in the introduction, the very introverted side of his personality and then the very cultured, mannered side…I think you see where I’m going with this. All authors, whether consciously or unconsciously, put themselves into their creations.

NOW KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HARRIS, DO YOU SEE HIM IN WILL GRAHAM AND HANNIBAL LECTER?

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE WAY THIS EPISODE SETS UP THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS MOVING FORWARD? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHERE THIS SERIES IS GOING TO GO?

I watched this pilot when it aired and loved it, so this was both a rewatch and a reintroduction because for whatever reason I ended up not following the show, probably busy with other things. This show aired for three seasons and though the ratings were not through the roof it developed quite a devoted fan base and there has been talk of it possibly coming back for at least a few more episodes in some form. This is going to be great watching a series we haven’t seen and talking about it…you could say we’re going to sink our teeth into it.

WHAT DID YOU TIHNK OF THE HUMOR IN THE EPISODE? THERE ARE SOME DARK, TWISTED LITTLE ONE LINERS? I FEEL THAT THE PRODUCERS AND WRITERS ARE HAVING FUN WITH THE FACT THAT WE ALL KNOW WHO HANNIBAL LECTER IS AND LET THE PUNS FLY EVERY NOW AND THEN. WAS THAT A DISTRACTION TO YOU?

As far as pilots go this one is up there for me. I think it does a great job of introducing the two leads, giving some shine time to the supporting cast and establishing the world and issues we’re going to be dealing with moving forward.

And yes…we will soon be talking about the Silence of the Lambs so make sure to join us for that.

LINKS

HANNIBAL series official site HANNIBAL IMDb page Bryan Fuller biography Bryan Fuller filmography Thomas Harris official website MANHUNTER IMDb page Michael Mann filmography Black Sunday IMDb page The Silence of the Lambs IMDb page Hannibal IMDb page Red Dragon IMDb page Hannibal Rising IMDb page Mads Mikkelsen biography Mads Mikkelsen filmography Hugh Dancy biography Hugh Dancy filmography Laurence Fishburne biography Laurence Fishburne filmography Joey Tribianni Dolph Lundgren Highly Sensitive Person traits Empath traits