Hannibal (film) Hannibal (film) Hannibal is a 2001 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1999 novel of the same name. It is the sequel to the 1991 Academy Award–winning film "The Silence of the Lambs" in which Anthony Hopkins returns to his role as the serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. Julianne Moore co-stars, in the role first held by Jodie Foster, as FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling. The film had a difficult and occasionally troubling pre-production history. When the novel was published in 1999, "The Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan Demme, screenwriter Ted Tally, and
Jodie Foster Gordon's film "Waking the Dead" (2000), which she produced. She declined to reprise her role as Clarice Starling in "Hannibal" (2001), with the part going instead to Julianne Moore, and concentrated on a new directorial project, "Flora Plum". It was to focus on a 1930s circus and star Claire Danes and Russell Crowe, but had to be shelved after Crowe was injured on set and could not complete filming on schedule; Foster unsuccessfully attempted to revive the project several times in the following years. Controversially, she also expressed interest in directing and starring in a biopic of Nazi film director