Will the Lambs Stop Screaming?

A cause for celebration.  This blog has had over 1000 unique readers.  Outstanding, I appreciate that it is an eclectic blog and that is primarily because I am an electric sort who takes an interest in a great many things, at the same time I have tried to make it as easy going as possible and as such most of the posts have been about cultural items both old and new, this post will combine both.

An old friend recently informed of the up coming "Hannibal" TV series.  At first I was reserved.  Having been a big fan of the Thomas Harris literature surrounding the Lithuanian cannibal from a disturbingly young age I've always felt in a way that translations don't always do the works justice, with the exception of The Silence of the Lambs.  Hannibal was a let down, the psychological edginess present in Lambs was sacrificed, excuse the pun, in favour of the grotesque and the ridiculous wasting a fantastic cast, Oldman, Moore, Giannini, Liotta and of course Hopkins himself.   Red Dragon was an improvement but by that time the whole premise of the Hopkins era adaptation had begun to feel tired, and the less said about Manhunter the better.  Adaptations of Harris' work have had a somewhat up and down ride from the lofty heights of Lambs to the betrayal of content and deletion of so many characters in Hannibal, or the overall poor film that was Hannibal Rising, though I personally can't help but feel that that was because the source literature simply wasn't as sublime as its predecessors. 

Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, moving away from this adaptation is a bold, but smart move.

The trailer for the new series holds a great deal of promise however, it looks bold, the cast is fantastic, Mads Mikkelsen seems an inspired choice for the deranged doctor, and the supporting cast would all be at home on Hollywoods A-List.  By delivering via a TV serial rather than a film this project should be able to deliver the detail, intrigue and character development that made Lambs the classic it is, while indulging the bloodthirsty among us with scenes we hope of an extreme graphic nature.  It will be interesting to see how on script the story will be as it seems from the advertisements that it will follow the Red Dragon novel.  Will see a lot more background to Lecter and Will Graham?  One hopes so because it seemed to me it was an undeveloped relationship in both Red Dragon and Manhunter so as to suit the limits of a film.  A TV series solves that problem.

Oh yes and before I forget to mention yet another lead role in an US TV series for an English actor Hugh Dancy.  The invasion continues and lets hope his Will Graham will have us all gripped on the edge of our seats for another taste of cannibalistic fun and games.

Hannibal Trailer