The Hollywood Reporter reports that: Producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis are finalizing a deal to partner with Universal Pictures to bring Tom Harris’ 1981 best-selling crime-thriller novel “Red Dragon” to the big screen again. Screenwriter Ted Tally, who won an Academy Award for his feature adaptation of Harris’ sequel “The Silence of the Lambs,” has been signed to adapt “Dragon” and is expected to deliver the script in mid-March.
The hiring of Tally comes as the feature film version of “Hannibal,” Harris’ third work featuring the Dr. Hannibal Lecter character is being completed for a Feb. 9 release domestically by MGM, with Universal scheduled to distribute the film in most international territories shortly thereafter. The De Laurentiises are producing “Hannibal” with the film’s director Ridley Scott.
“Dragon” was the first of Harris’ novels to introduce Lecter, the psychiatrist-turned-cannibal brought to life by Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning turn in “Silence of the Lambs.” Hopkins reprises the role in”Hannibal” and has said he would be interested in the role again for “Red Dragon,” depending on the script.
The “Dragon” novel centers on a serial killer of the same name who is on the loose, bringing FBI agent Will Graham out of retirement because he has a special talent for catching such killers. Graham was almost the victim of Lecter, now jailed and to whom Graham appeals for help.
Universal would release “Dragon” domestically, while the Dino De Laurentiis Co. may retain international distribution rights. The project would be financed by Universal and DDLC, with the De Laurentiises producing. The start of principal photography will depend on whether there is an actors strike against producers. If there is no strike, shooting could start as soon as July.
In 1986, Michael Mann directed from his own adaptation a feature version of “Red Dragon” titled “Manhunter” that saw William L. Petersen star as Graham and Brian Cox as Lecter. The film didn’t find much of an audience, bringing in a meager $8.6 million domestically for De Laurentiis’ distribution company. The deal, however, was not without merit as De Laurentiis was granted sequel rights as well as ownership of the Lecter character.
“ ‘Red Dragon’ is about the crime Hannibal Lecter committed and the way he was arrested,” Dino De Laurentiis told The Hollywood Reporter. “Hannibal Lecter escaped in ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ and in ‘Hannibal,’ you see him in a new situation in Florence (Italy). The audience would like to know — once and forever — why, where and by whom Hannibal Lecter was arrested. This new version has parts of the book never seen before.”
De Laurentiis passed on “Silence,” but gave his authorization for use of the Lecter character to make the 1991 film, which took in $276.3 million in worldwide boxoffice and swept the Academy Awards, winning five Oscars, including picture, director for Jonathan Demme, actress for Jodie Foster and screenplay for Tally.
De Laurentiis paid Harris a whopping $10 million for the feature adaptation rights to “Hannibal,” a gruesome tale that opens seven years after Lecter’s escape and centers on him and FBI foe, Special Agent Clarice Starling (Julianne Moore). Steven Zaillian wrote the adaptation used to shoot the movie.