You have so much more time to understand this character without having to give some big explanation about their messed up childhood or what not. It’s interesting to consider Richard’s Dolarhyde compared to Tom Noonan’s and Ralph Fiennes’.
BF: I think it really was about having the real estate to tell a more in depth story. The movies were essentially two hours long, and we got to do six hours of television to explore the arc of Francis Dolarhyde. And that allows you to give a little bit more insight, it allowed us to explore his struggles with insanity more in depth than the previous two adaptations, simply because they didn’t have time.
“Red Dragon” has been adapted so many times, do you have any advice for the next poor guy who has to do it again, only now in the shadow of Manhunter and also Hannibal?
BF: I would hope that they are as passionate about Thomas Harris’ writing as I am, and the writers of Hannibal are. We revered Thomas Harris’ writing, and that’s why so much of the beautiful purple prose, that had no business being dialogue, we couldn’t help but put it in characters’ mouths, because it was wonderfully written, and rich, and textured. As long as you’re respecting the source material, and also making it your own in a distinct way, there’s a lot of life in those books.
Were you already mapping out the shift into “Silence of the Lambs?”
BF: I knew exactly what we were going to do with “Silence of the Lambs,” and there’s so many wonderful pockets there to be unpacked, whether it’s Benjamin Raspail, or Jame Gumb, or Barney, there was a lot to explore and flesh out. I’m still hoping that I’ll get to tell some version of the “Silence of the Lambs” story with Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter.
Given where you did get to end things with the third season, do you think you can look back on Hannibal in its current state as a complete work?
BF: I think I will always look back at Hannibal –or look forward to Hannibal– as an incomplete work, because there’s so much more of the story to be told. I’m glad that we got three years to tell a very unconventional story on network television, and Jen Salke at NBC was wonderful to allow us to do that. But I still feel like there are stories untold.
Looking ahead, you’ve already got another series you’re working on currently. Is there anything you can tease us about on how American Gods is progressing?
BF: We, Michael Green and I, are having a ball adapting this novel and really accordioning it out in surprising ways. We’re essentially taking passages in the book and really bumping out the walls, creating more room to tell more story with Wednesday and Shadow than you read in the novel. So all of our goals with the adaptation is for the novel to be the Reader’s Digest version of the story.
Did I catch that right: accordioning?
BF: Accordioning-ing? I don’t even know if that’s a word.
I’ll add it to my Word dictionary.
BF: [laughs]
Do you feel liberated now that you’re back in cable territory instead of network?
BF: You know, not necessarily liberated, because I never felt confined by NBC in telling Hannibal’s story. Yes, I knew that we couldn’t have nudity, but short of that, they allowed us to do everything that we wanted to do. And there were only a couple times where they were like, “We don’t know how you’re going to pull that off in a way that we can air it.” And usually in those circumstances there was some production issue that prevented us from doing it anyway. They couldn’t have been better collaborative partners for us, NBC was incredible. It’s one of the reasons that Hannibal got to be so distinguished in its horror, because NBC allowed it. That’s a rare experience for a network to do.
And you got your start on network. Last month, we got the announcement about another version of Star Trek. Have you felt the urge lately to slip any scripts under the doors over at CBS?
BF: [laughs] I love Star Trek, and I became a writer because of Star Trek. That will always be near and dear to my heart, and if there’s an opportunity to participate on a new version of Star Trek, I would be honored.
It’s that time of year where everyone’s catching up with the TV and movies of the last 11 months. Have you seen anything good lately?
BF: Fargo rocks my world every Monday night. It’s frustrating when I watch it, because I can’t decide who I want to get the Emmy: Kristen Dunst or Jean Smart.
What do you hope the takeaway on Hannibal will be years from now?
BF: I guess I would love for it to live on in the hearts of Fannibals, I would love for them to continue telling people about the show, and I would love to celebrate with them the return of the show.
That concludes our interview, but we’d like to thank Bryan for speaking with us. The third season of Hannibal is available on DVD and Blu-ray on December 8th.