Director Un-Masked

The turn-over for book-to-movie adaptations is becoming faster everyday, as Variety reports that Dino De Laurentiis is definitely planning on bringing the 4th installment of the Hannibal Lector story to the big screen, months before it’s even published. BEHIND THE MASK expands the story of how Hannibal became the cannibal we all know and love- like watching his little sister murdered, then devoured by soldiers during WWII. Yeah, that would probably make me a little nuts too! Laurentiis describes this installment as “a revenge story that shows why he became a cannibal… But he kills people that the audience wants to see killed.” Sounds like my kind of movie! Time to root for the bad guy (oh wait, we’ve always rooted for the bad guy)!



Peter Webber (GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING) has already been signed on to direct, with Universal and MGM distributing for summer 2006 release. Although no casting decisions yet, there will be three different actors playing the role of Hannibal at three different times in his life. Although I’m a bit weary about this one, the story definitely has me intrigued, reminding me of how we became to know the history of Mr. Krueger himself in FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE. Thomas Harris’ book is scheduled to be published this February, while the film is scheduled to start filming in May.