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 Leni Riefenstahl, who did not like the idea. In addition to these setbacks, Foster shut down Egg Pictures in 2001, stating that producing was "just a really thankless, bad job". The company's last production, "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys", premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2002. It received good reviews, and had a limited theatrical release in the summer. After the cancellation of "Flora Plum", Foster took on the main role in David Fincher's thriller "Panic Room" after its intended star, Nicole Kidman, had to drop out due to an injury on set. Before filming resumed, Foster