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Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 27 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenesHarris wrote it to keep Lecter
Dino De Laurentiis, who held the character's rights, told Thomas Harris he'd make the prequel with someone else if Harris passed. Harris ended up writing both the novel and the screenplay.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesUlliel said no more than once
Gaspard Ulliel turned the part down several times before signing on. He saw it as too risky to take on a role audiences tied to Anthony Hopkins.
source ↗ - SetupNext stop: Canada
The last name on Hannibal's list is in Canada. The film ends with him crossing the Atlantic, to the continent where the rest of his story plays out.
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- Behind the scenesHopkins's advice
Anthony Hopkins gave Mads Mikkelsen one tip: play Lecter as totally sane.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe episode NBC pulled
Episode four, "Oeuf," about children pushed into killing their own families, was pulled from US TV after the Sandy Hook shooting. Fuller made the call, and the episode later went online.
source ↗ - ReferenceA French menu
Every episode title this season is a French culinary term, from "Apéritif" to "Savoureux."
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- ReferenceA Krendler anagram
The show didn't have the rights to Paul Krendler from The Silence of the Lambs, so it created Kade Prurnell, an anagram of his name.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBarney became Matthew Brown
Without the rights to Barney, the orderly from the books, the writers came up with a different hospital worker, Matthew Brown.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBowie almost played Lecter's uncle
The producers approached David Bowie to play Count Robert Lecter, Hannibal's uncle. He wasn't available.
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- ReferenceFrom Italy to Blake's paintings
Episodes 1 to 7 are named after Italian courses. Episodes 8 to 12 take their titles from William Blake's Great Red Dragon paintings, and the finale quotes Revelation 6:16.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo seasons in one
What Fuller had planned as seasons 3 and 4 became a single season with two stories and a three-year jump in between.
source ↗ - SetupA table set for three
After the final episode's credits, Bedelia Du Maurier waits nervously at a table set for three. The scene leaves open who's coming to dinner.
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- Behind the scenesLecktor, with a k
The film changes the spelling: Lecter becomes Lecktor, played by Brian Cox, and Dolarhyde gets an extra L.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBlame Year of the Dragon
The film was going to be called Red Dragon. Dino De Laurentiis changed it after Michael Cimino's Year of the Dragon flopped in 1985. Mann thought the new title was worse.
source ↗ - ReferenceA prisoner's song
Mann corresponded with imprisoned killer Dennis Wayne Wallace, who thought of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" as "their song." That's how the track ended up in the film.
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- SetupA young woman from the FBI
In the last scene, Dr. Chilton tells Lecter he has a visitor: a young woman from the FBI. The film ends there.
source ↗ - CameoTwo films, same crew
Red Dragon and Manhunter share a cinematographer, Dante Spinotti, and an actor in different roles: Frankie Faison.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesEight hours of ink
Ralph Fiennes trained about 90 minutes a day for months, wore a cleft palate prosthetic and sat for about eight hours to get the back tattoo applied.
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- Behind the scenesThe Big Five
The film won Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Adapted Screenplay, only the third ever to sweep the Big Five.
source ↗ - CameoRoger Corman at the FBI
Roger Corman, who gave Demme his start, plays FBI Director Hayden Burke. Chris Isaak is the SWAT commander, and George A. Romero shows up uncredited as a jailer.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesIt was going to be Hackman's
Gene Hackman planned to direct and star, but dropped out when his kids asked him to quit violent films. Michelle Pfeiffer was Demme's first pick for Clarice and said no.
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- Behind the scenesJodie Foster passed
Jodie Foster didn't return, officially over a scheduling conflict. Julianne Moore took over as Clarice and trained at FBI headquarters before the shoot.
source ↗ - CameoUnrecognizable Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman spent about six hours a day in makeup to play Mason Verger. He went uncredited in the theatrical release; his name was added later.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe real Florence
Shooting began May 8, 2000, in Florence, with scenes at the Palazzo Vecchio and the Ponte Vecchio. The whole second act is set there.
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- Behind the scenesNo saying Lecter
The character rights are split between MGM and De Laurentiis, so the show couldn't show or mention Lecter. Alex Kurtzman said they had no interest anyway.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe girl from the pit is back
Catherine Martin, the victim Clarice saved from Buffalo Bill, is back, played by Marnee Carpenter. Her mother, Ruth Martin, is now US Attorney General.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe season 2 that never came
CBS tried to move the show to Paramount+, but talks with co-producer MGM stalled. It was never officially canceled.
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