Hannibal (film) realized that Zaillian was "exorcising the 600 pages of the book. He was distilling through discussion what he was gonna finally do ... Frankly I could have just made it." It was unclear if Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling) and Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter) would reprise their respective roles for which they won Academy Awards in "The Silence of the Lambs" (best actress/actor). It became apparent that the producers and the studio could do without one of the original "stars" and would go on to find a replacement. The withdrawal of both Foster and Hopkins could possibly have been terminal for
Jodie Foster breadwinners of the family during this time. She had recurring roles in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1969–1971) and "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1973), and starred opposite Christopher Connelly in the short-lived "Paper Moon" (1974), adapted from the hit film. Foster also appeared in films, mostly for Disney. After a role in the television film "Menace on the Mountain" (1970), she made her feature film debut in "Napoleon and Samantha" (1972), playing a girl who becomes friends with a boy, played by Johnny Whitaker, and his pet lion. She was accidentally grabbed by the lion on set,