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
Michael Foster (agent) Michael Foster (agent) Michael Adam Foster (born March 1958) is a British former talent agent and politician. He was Chris Evans' agent and has run several talent agencies. He was a Labour donor and Parliamentary candidate, but he left the party after a series of disputes with leader Jeremy Corbyn. Foster became an agent in 1982. As co-chair of International Creative Management in London from 1986 to December 1997, Foster was agent for TV and radio presenter Chris Evans and actors Liz Hurley and Hugh Grant, among others. Foster then became managing director of Television at Evans' Ginger Media Group.