By Christina Radish
In the new MGM / Weinstein Company film Hannibal Rising, moviegoers who are intrigued about the murderous Hannibal Lecter will be able to explore the origins of the Silence of the Lambs character’s rage, terror and savagery.
Beginning in Eastern Europe at the desperate end of World War II, Hannibal (Gaspard Ulliel) must endure the sight of his parents’ violent deaths, leaving his cherished young sister in his care. That horrific moment soon pales in comparison to the atrocities he is forced to witness, changing him forever.
Alone and without any means of support, Hannibal is forced to live in a Soviet orphanage that once served as his family’s beloved home. When he flees to Paris, only to find his uncle has died, leaving behind a beautiful and mysterious widow, Lady Murasaki (Gong Li) welcomes him. His cunning aptitude for science gets him accepted to medical school, where he hones his skills and learns how to exact justice on the war criminals that haunt him, day and night. This quest quickly ignites an insatiable lust within a serial killer who was not born, but made.
{quote_top}Born in the novels of American writer Thomas Harris, Hannibal Lecter is a cultural icon who is one of the most famous anti-heroes ever created. To show how Hannibal became the brilliant, charming and evil man that Anthony Hopkins introduced to the world, casting the central role was critical to the film, and the filmmakers knew they had found their young star in 22-year-old French actor Gaspard Ulliel.
"My first meeting was with the French producer, Mr. Tarak Ben Ammar,” Ulliel tells MediaBlvd Magazine. “We went to dinner in Paris and talked about the project. I was very excited, and also very surprised, that he came to me for this role. Then, I met producer Dino De Laurentiis, and he insisted that I meet the director, Peter Webber, because I was hesitating about accepting the project, after reading the script. I was very scared. I knew that it was very risky for me to go into this project because it’s such a popular character, and I knew that there would be a lot of expectations on this film.”
Once he made the decision to overcome his fear and take on the role of Hannibal, Ulliel says that he made every effort not to imitate or copy Hopkins’ performance. “I didn’t think I’d be able to imitate him. He’s so amazing in those films. He’s a very big actor. I discussed that a lot with the director and we agreed that this film is very different, and the story is taking place in a different time, when the character is much younger and hasn’t experienced the prison. So, I was free to create my own Hannibal Lecter. I knew that the audience would want or expect similarities with Anthony Hopkins, so one part of my preparation for the role was just to observe him and try to pick out a few subtle details that I could mix in with my own recipe to build my own character.”
In finding his own Hannibal, Ulliel also did a lot of research on serial killers, reading many different books about their childhoods and how they got started killing. “It’s pretty much the same thing, every time. It’s a slow evolution, and they start very early. They usually start with torturing animals or setting fires, and stuff like that. It was very helpful. Also, I worked on the script because I had a nice background for the character in the script. And, I read the three Tom Harris novels. I found some really relevant information there. Then, there was all of the work I did with Peter Webber. We discussed the character a lot, and exchanged our points of view. He also organized a meeting for me with a movement coach that was very interesting. We worked on a different way of breathing, walking and standing.”
{quote_middle}“Peter also sent me to an autopsy class in Prague, so that I could see the dead bodies. That was a very strong experience. I was a bit frightened at the beginning because, when you enter the room and have all those dead corpses, the smell is very strong, from the mixture of formaldehyde and rotten meat. Then, you just forget all those bad aspects because you are watching something fascinating. It’s great to see how everything works inside your body. It’s pretty, in a way, because it’s like a piece of art. You have all those textures and different colors.”
Ulliel actually became so enthralled by the process that he asked to go back to the autopsy lesson for a second day. “It’s a lesson that lasts for a whole month, and I first went during the last week when the bodies were already completely destroyed and opened. I think that’s one of the reasons why it was not that scary. It didn’t feel real. The bodies looked fake. They were so destroyed that I couldn’t imagine that I was looking at a real human body, so I asked if I could also go on he first day of the next session, to see the fresh bodies coming in and how they open them. I think that is more scary.”
Admittedly not a fan of horror films, Ulliel says he can understand why people like to feel scared sometimes, which is why he thinks someone as vicious as Hannibal is so well-liked. “In this film, we tried to make this character a bit sympathetic and more human, keeping the audience on his side. In the other films before this, the character was presented as a real monster. The audience admires him, even though he is a serial killer doing horrible things. I think that might be due to the fact that he is so intelligent, well-educated, always very polite and charming, and he manages to seduce the audience.”
{quote_bottom}Although he is not actually signed on to do more films, and he says he has no idea where Harris might take the character next, Ulliel says that he would definitely play Hannibal again. “It’s a very pleasant, fun, interesting and complex character to work on. The idea of working on this character again is appealing to me, but I would have to see if the script is good and the director is interesting.”
With Hannibal Rising being the biggest English-speaking role that Ulliel has done thus far, the actors is looking forward to doing his next film in France. “My next project is very different from this one. It’s a very small art-house film and the role is the opposite of this one. It’s being directed by Niki Caro, who did North Country and Whale Rider, and it’s a nice, small story about a winemaker that is going to meet his guardian angel. It’s being shot in France and New Zealand.”
