Coyote
05-14-2003, 12:10 PM
Uber-producer Dino De Laurentiis is prepping yet another Hannibal Lecter film, but this time directly with Hannibal creator, novelist Thomas Harris. Screen Daily is reporting that the project is called THE LECTER VARIATION: THE STORY OF YOUNG HANNIBAL LECTER and will follow Hannibal as he makes his way from his "childhood in Lithuania" up through his time in France as a teenager and ending when he comes to the United States. There will be four different actors playing Hannibal at ages 12, 16, 20 and 25. Even stranger, it seems that Harris will be writing the screenplay himself as well as a novel version of it. Universal will be distributing the film and there's no word on when it will come to fruition, but with Harris' direct relation with De Laurentiis - after the reclusive Harris said for years that he didn't want to be involved with the movies as they might impact his writing of the books - this might become a rather interesting project.