Anthony Hopkins left his mark in a very special and bloody role. However, he does not hide his regret that he agreed to put on this costume several times. Needless to say, he would never wear it again.
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Don't believe for a moment that he'll come back. Anthony Hopkins is definitely done with this role. Worse, the British actor would almost deny the role that made him famous around the world. It's obviously the psychopath Hannibal Lecter. The cannibalistic serial killer, originally dreamed up by writer Thomas Harris, got five films. In three of them, available on Paramount+, it is Anthony Hopkins who puts on his costume. However, if there's one thing he regrets, it's that he returned for a second and third film. “I did it once. It was a mistake to do it again,” the actor told The Wrap in 2016.
“The Silence of the Lambs wasn’t bad.”
“The Silence of the Lambs wasn’t bad. “It was a good movie,” Anthony Hopkins added, suggesting that the sequels weren't on the same level. A statement that leaves little doubt about his desire to continue wearing the costume in the future. The second film with the sober title “Hannibal” was released in cinemas in 2001, ten years after “The Silence of the Lambs”. It was Ridley Scott and no longer Jonathan Demme who was responsible for the story. The opportunity for Dr. Lecter's only surviving victim, Mason Verger, to try to find him in order to make him suffer. Clarice Starling, who has become an FBI agent, also wants to reach him. The third film in this series dedicated to Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon, was directed by Brett Ratner – to whom we also owe the final episode of the X-Men trilogy in 2005 – the following year. There, Hannibal Lecter is called for help by the FBI itself, which is unable to expose a new serial killer on the loose.
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Hannibal Lecter has been making a comeback in various forms since 2002
Since the end of this bloody trilogy with Anthony Hopkins, the audiovisual projects surrounding the cannibal psychiatrist have not stopped. Peter Webber made a new version of the story as a film in 2007: Hannibal Lecter: The Origins of Evil. Gaspard Ulliel then played the doctor. Finally, Mads Mikkelsen also took on this role for television between 2013 and 2015. The series Hannibal, broadcast on Canal+ in France, only had three seasons due to a lack of viewers.
Article written in collaboration with 6Médias