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
Bassem Youssef (FBI agent) Bassem Youssef (FBI agent) Bassem Youssef (born Egypt) is a senior American FBI agent. He was the highest ranking American agent of Coptic descent employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as of 2009, as a Unit Chief in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. Prior to holding this position, Youssef coordinated the national counterterrorism investigation into the Islamic Group, the organization responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing. Youssef was born in Egypt in a Coptic Christian family. He speaks fluent Arabic (the highest ranking FBI official with this skill). In 1994, he earned the Intelligence Community’s prestigious and coveted