Fine young Hannibal awaits
New Harris book, pic will be set in 1940s Europe
The cannibal's creator, novelist Thomas Harris, is already hard at work penning "Behind the Mask," and producer Dino De Laurentiis is planning to bring the story to the bigscreen in 2006.
The Italian-born producer, who also put together "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon," said the prequel will be about "the creation of a monster" and involve complicated casting. He's thinking of using a casting director out of London and choosing actors who can play a 5-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old. The producer believes an English accent will better convey the personality of the Lithuanian-born Lecter than would an American.
The new Harris book, announced Thursday by publisher Bantam Dell, and the subsequent film will be set in the 1940s in Europe.
Little has filtered out as yet about the personality of little Lecter other than that he is something of a loner with a high IQ who alternates flashes of empathy with outright antipathy toward others.
Harris has written three previous Lecter books: Aside from "Red Dragon" and "Hannibal," he penned "The Silence of the Lambs," which was adapted into the best picture winner starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster.
