A sequel to the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, the plot follows disgraced FBI special agent Clarice Starling as she attempts to apprehend the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter before his surviving victim, Mason Verger, captures him.

Anthony Hopkins reprises his role as Lecter, while Julianne Moore replaces Jodie Foster as Starling and Gary Oldman plays Verger.

Scott became attached while directing Gladiator (2000), and signed on after reading the script pitched by Dino De Laurentiis, who had produced Manhunter (1986), the first Lecter film.

After learning of Starling's disgrace, Lecter sends her a letter; he is hiding in Florence under the false identity of library curator "Dr.

On a flight, Lecter, his arm in a sling, shares Krendler's brain with a curious boy, saying it is important to "try new things.” The Silence of the Lambs, based on the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris, was released in 1991 to critical and commercial success, winning five Academy Awards.

[13] In the 2010 Biography Channel documentary Inside Story: The Silence of the Lambs, Demme said: "Tom Harris, as unpredictable as ever, took Clarice and Dr. Lecter's relationship in a direction that just didn't compute for me.

[15] Scott, who was conducting principal photography on Gladiator, thought De Laurentiis was speaking about the Carthaginian general and replied: "Dino, I'm doing a Roman epic right now.

"[7] It was unclear if Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling) and Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter) would reprise their respective roles for which they won Academy Awards in The Silence of the Lambs (Best Actress/Best Actor).

[8][19] "The studio is just back from the holiday and is regrouping based on the news, and has no cohesive game plan at the moment," said Kevin Misher, Universal's President of Production.

"[22] When it became clear that Foster would skip Hannibal, the production team considered several different actresses,[7] including Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson, Hilary Swank, Ashley Judd, Helen Hunt and Julianne Moore.

[29] When the film moves to the US, Hopkins changed his appearance by building up muscle and cropping his hair short "to make him like a mercenary, that he would be so fit and so strong that he could just snap somebody in two if they got ... in his way".

[29] The part of Mason Verger, one of Lecter's two surviving victims, was originally offered to Christopher Reeve based on his work as a police officer who uses a wheelchair in Above Suspicion (1995).

Not having read the novel, Reeve showed initial interest in the role, but ultimately declined upon realizing that Verger was a quadriplegic, facially-disfigured child rapist.

Cinematographer John Mathieson, editor Pietro Scalia and composer Hans Zimmer had all worked on Scott's previous film Gladiator.

[7] For Mason Verger, the make-up team initially produced 20 different heads which looked like zombies and did not reflect the vision Scott had of the character.

[7] The main titles were designed by Nick Livesey, a graduate of the Royal College of Art who worked for one of Scott's production companies in London.

[7] Livesey gathered footage of pigeons in an empty square in Florence early one morning which, in the final cut, would morph into the face of Hannibal Lecter.

"Zimmer truly crafts a score worthy of most fans' full attention ... the classical elements, and yes, even the monologue combine to make this an intense listening experience.

"[11] During the opera scene in Florence, Lecter attends an operatic adaptation of one of Dante's sonnets, and meets with Detective Pazzi and his wife, Allegra.

[41] Part of the story involves the character Rinaldo Pazzi (Giancarlo Giannini), a Florentine policeman who learns "Dr. Fell's" true identity and realizes that this knowledge could make him rich.

[36] A poster released in the UK to promote Hannibal, featuring Lecter with a "skin mask" covering the right side of his face, was quickly removed from circulation as it was deemed "too shocking and disturbing for the public.

"[42][better source needed] Upon its release, Hannibal was met with significant media attention,[37][43] with the film's stars and director making several appearances on television, in newspapers and in magazines.

[44] In an article for CBS News, Jill Serjeant stated that "the long-awaited sequel to the grisly 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs is cooking up the hottest Internet and media buzz since the 1999 Star Wars 'prequel'.

"[44] Stars Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore made the covers of a number of magazines, including Vanity Fair,[45] Entertainment Weekly,[46] Premiere,[43] and Empire.

Dino De Laurentiis Company retained the film through close deals, such as Tobis StudioCanal for Germany, Filmauro for Italy and GAGA Communications for Japan.

The website's critical consensus reads, "While superbly acted and stylishly filmed, Hannibal lacks the character interaction between the two leads which made the first movie so engrossing.

[65] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.[66] Time magazine wrote: "A banquet of creepy, gory or grotesque incidents is on display in Hannibal.

It never quite gets there, but it tries with every fiber of its craft to redeem its pulp origins, and we must give it credit for the courage of its depravity," and although he was "left with admiration for Scott's craft in pulling [it] off at all, and making it watchable", and praised the Mason Verger character as "a superb joining of skill and diabolical imagination," as well as Hopkins' performance as Lecter, which he described as "fascinating every second he is on the screen," he concluded, "I cannot approve of the movie, not because of its violence, which belongs to the Grand Guignol tradition, but because the underlying story lacks the fascination of Silence of the Lambs.

"[70] According to Variety magazine, the script for Hannibal was: "quite faithful to the Harris blueprint; fans of the tome may regret the perhaps necessary excision of some characters, most notably Mason Verger's muscle-bound macho sister Margot, as well as the considerable fascinating academic detail, but will basically feel the book has been respected (yes, even the climactic dinner party is served up almost intact, with the only surprise twists saved for its wake).

Margot, at Lecter's advice, stimulates her brother to ejaculate with a rectally inserted cattle prod, and then kills him by ramming his pet moray eel down his throat.