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I t’s now over 20 years since the character of Dr Hannibal ‘The
Cannibal’ Lecter was first intro- duced on the big screen - as played by Scots actor Brian Cox in Michael Mann’s atmospheric thriller, Manhunter. However, it
was five years after that when, thanks to an Oscar-winning performance by Welsh star Anthony Hopkins in 1991’s block- buster, The Silence Of The Lambs, the monstrous Lecter was then elevated to a cultural icon.
Lecter, as played by Hopkins, has returned twice since in Hannibal and Red Dragon, a remake of Manhunter. According to producer Dino De Laurentiis, responsible for Manhunter as well as the last two blood-spattered out- ings, what fans he spoke to on promotional trips really wanted to know was, “why does Hannibal Lecter become a monster?”
The answer comes in
Hannibal Rising, adapted by Thomas Harris from his own recent novel from the same name, a prequel which takes us back first to the forests of Lithuania towards the end of World War II where the child Hannibal and his little sister are left alone to survive in the wild after the death of their parents in a German air raid.
Following an act of hideous sav- agery at the hands of blood-thirsty local militia, the thirst for revenge is ignited which consumes Hannibal from his days in a Soviet orphanage to subsequent freedom in the West at the French home of his aunt and late uncle.
Directed by Peter (Girl With A Pearl Earring) Webber – a winner in 1988 of the Fujifilm Scholarship Award - entirely in and around Prague, Hannibal Rising co-
stars Gaspar Ulliel, Gong Li, Rys Ifans and Dominic West, and was lit by British cinematographer, Ben Davis BSC.
Said Davis: “The great thing about this film is that it has so many different textures. It has different seasons, differ- ent moods, and different time periods. Also our lead character changes funda- mentally from the beginning to the end, so the look of the film shifts with him.
“Visually, the films follows Hannibal’s journey, starting in Lithuania in the war, which is a very dark time in
starting the film, I did a lot of testing. I was bleach-bypassing for the Lithuanian sequences, pull-processing and pre-flash- ing. Because I was having to beach bypass on the negative and not the inter- positive, it was basically all or nothing. It can get very dark and I was trying to pull it back a little.
“So, the idea was to pull the stock to lessen that contrast and pre-flash as well with different percentages. Doing some exterior tests, I tried the Reala 500D and it proved the best stock for the
job. Then I started to shoot it also on some of the mixed light scenes on the interiors and on some of the daylight scenes. I really grew to love it. It has a certain amount of de-saturation and it is also slight low-con. I like both those things.
“When Peter Webber first talked to me about the film he showed me some Jean-Pierre Melville refer- ences like Le Samourai. We were going for a film noir
look. I wasn’t too sure at first but at the first pre-shoot we did, the guys turned up in 40s’ cars and hats so it was obvious to go that way. Call it a cross between LA Confidential and Le Samourai.”
Last word on the “look” goes to young star Gaspar Ulliel who, in Hannibal Rising establishes the charac- ter’s predilection for human flesh and Chianti. “Ben is a great cinematographer. The light is amazing. This is really important in a film like this because it creates an atmosphere of suspense
and fear.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Hannibal Rising, currently on general release, was partly originated on 35mm Fujicolor Reala 500D 8592
feature in focus
BIRTH OF A MONSTER
Creating the “look” of suspense and fear in Hannibal Rising
his life, reflected in a very dark, de-satu- rated, grainy look. There are a lot of shadows, a lot of blacks.
“Then he escapes Eastern Europe, crosses the border, and comes into post- war France. It’s very claustrophobic at the beginning and then opens up when he escapes. We are outside for the first time, so there are more wide shots to convey a sense of freedom. And because that seems to me to be the only part of his life which is in any way nice, the colours become warmer.”
As for the “violent crescendo of the film”, it is, noted Davis, “a sort of descent into insanity which is reflected in style as this film becomes more and more film noir.”
Until Hannibal Rising, Davis had never shot before on Fujifilm. “Before
8 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture