The 'Young Hannibal' set to showcase Lecter's childhood

Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 6:11 PM Central

by John Couture

Nope. That's not a misprint. Filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis let the cat out of the bag this week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Apparently, novelist Thomas Harris is busy putting the final touches on The Lecter Variation: The Story Of Young Hannibal. The story allegedly follows the young cannibal from his childhood in World War II Lithuania to his immigration to the United States to his transformation into everyone's favorite cannibalistic killer.

No cast has been set, but it appears that Anthony Hopkins, who has played Lecter in three previous movies, will not be reprising the role of Hannibal Lecter...unless he's got a fountain of youth stashed away somewhere.