Entertainment Tonight went behind the scenes of MGM’s and The Weinstein Company’s Young Hannibal and spoke to the film’s star, Gaspard Ulliel, about taking on the character made famous by Anthony Hopkins.
“It’s the early cannibalism, he starts to discover the dark side of him and starts to enjoy the killing,” Ulliel says. “You understand why he became like this.”
Ulliel admits he studied the Hopkins’ attention-grabbing performance to prepare for the role. “Especially ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ I watched it maybe 50 times and studied how he was moving, his eye movement…”
The French-born actor realizes that although Hannibal is gruesome and twisted, he still manages to gain sympathy from the audience. “You are moved by him,” he says, “and feel some pity for him even if he does all of those horrible killings.”
He added that you can expect “some really nasty killings, especially near the end. The more savage it is, the more great it is.”
You can watch a video of the interview here.
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