Editorial Staff
Can you tell us something about the relationship of Will, because it’s going to be different than in previous seasons?
Will is always a tricky thing, because in many ways that was the ultimate ending of our relationship in the second season. To try to figure out how can they go on from there has been a challenge of course. Obviously they are hunting me down, that’s purpose number one. But in Will’s world it’s double sided, right? Its definitely the cop that is working, but it’s also a great fascination with the man he’s hunting. That I am aware of, of course, and I will play on that. There’s still the cat and mouse. There’s still the fascination with each other. We have to keep that. If that wasn’t there it would become just a cop and baddie story.
What’s your favorite thing about doing Hannibal?
Many things. I mean, as I just mentioned the character himself is very hard to predict what he is up to. Which is fun for an actor. My colleagues, wonderful people I’ve worked with for over three years now. Bryan Fuller, who constantly surprises us with ideas that makes us happy, and grateful that he is a writer and not roaming the streets with his crazy ideas. He’s the engine. He’s the gasoline on the show.
Three years ago was it hard to take this role? To accept the role?
Yeah, absolutely. Its not a secret that you are walking in some giant shoes. Couple of people have done it to perfection. We also knew that we were doing something quite different. We also knew that we would get hell on earth for it and other people would embrace it. But, I think we have proven that we have our own rights to be doing what we are doing. It took a little while for some of the critics, but quite a few of them have surrendered, and that makes us really proud.
There is something about Hannibal that you say I would love to have it in real life, a behavior, or a skill?
Well I just said the ability to embrace life as he does is quite fascinating, and unfortunately death as well.
Bryan Fuller mentioned before we talked that this season will be a little bit like a soap opera, so what was it like for you to play?
Yeah, I know he said that. I mean I’m not really sure what a soap opera means.
A Gothic soap opera.
Yeah, well it has elements I think we had that probably in the first and second season as well. You see that in a lot of TV shows. It is crazy what happens. There are definitely what you say, deus ex machina. There is throwing things into the story that is so crazy, and it leaves the story in. There are people who against all odds are surviving things that you cannot imagine, right? That becomes the dark humor of the show, but there’s also a realism still to the show in the moments that we’re trying to embrace.
Do you ever read the script and feel like this is too much?
No. I never feel its too much in the sense of like I’m crossing a border, where we offend people. That does not exist in my world. I mean, the more we can cross it the better it is. It can be wrong. Certain things can be like, I don’t think that feels right for the show, or feels right for that specific situation. But, never too much. No.
After three seasons do you go back for research? After will you go back for the book?
No. No. Not at all. I mean, I know the stories fairly well. Bryan knows them extremely well. He gets inspired by them and the inspiration is in the script. The inspiration I need. Sometimes when I’m kept in the dark its kind of nice that I don’t have that referral to a character in a book. I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter. It comes from you, and the life …
In the beginning did you go back to the book?
I did read the books, and after a couple of episodes of shooting I did see the films again, just to see if there was anything in there that we could use at that point. It was difficult because the films are obviously filmed when he’s in jail, and we were not there yet. I couldn’t really steal form it, but I could like what I saw.
You go from being on the run, to then being caged.
I don’t know. Well obviously going into the Red Dragon story, and we all know the Red Dragon story he is incarcerated. So that is the case here as well. But, his deal is slightly different from other peoples.
Now that we’ve sort of seen how he’s going to be going from being out, and about and then to being caged …
Out and about?
What does he eat when he’s in jail?
When he’s in jail? Well, you’ll be surprised how he can get all those thing … you know. He’s eating pretty well. He’s being spoiled by Alana Bloom for various reasons. So he’s not starving, that’s for sure. Until a certain limit I should say. It does change because he’s not behaving himself in jail.
Do you like this foodie part of the whole thing? Are you a foodie?
Yeah, I think it’s a very important part of the show. In one of themes of the show, that I think they are doing really well is the whole lifted imagery of the whole show. The portrayal of the dead people. It’s never in your face. Reality is always lifted, as a painting. As a piece of music. That goes for the food as well. I think that is heightened, and I think its a strong element of the show. A cannibal can be a person who just eats people, but he can also be someone who is an artist, and I think he is.
You have a favorite plate that you ate in the first and second season?
Yes, I mean both me and Laurence were really fond of the foie gras that was made.To the extent that we actually deliberately fucked up the scene a couple times to get another go at it. It was very delicious.
Anything this season food wise that …?
Food wise? Well I’ve made a lot of interesting stuff this season, let me see if I can remember. Well, let me get back to that.
You do all your own cooking? Like that’s you who’s doing that?
I do my chopping. Yeah, I mean we have this wonderful woman called Janice who is preparing all the food, right? She’s an artist. I’ve been settled between the last chopping thingy … but I am throwing things around, and having fire on the pan. I don’t think I’ve become a better chef, but I do definitely look like a better chef now.
So you like cook in real life?
Not so much. I try to cook easy food, because there’s a lot of chopping going on. I like that.
Do you get approached on the street here by people who recognize you?
Yeah. Yeah I do. More and more every season, but its interesting but it’s interesting enough it’s not always for Hannibal. It can be actually, tends to be a lot of people watch foreign films in Canada. For that reason they’ve watched a lot of my Danish stuff. That’s interesting that that travels as well.
Can you talk a bit about Lecter’s intentions with Dolarhyde?
Dolarhyde is like a piece of a puzzle that just all of a sudden comes into his hands. You can say there’s a slight jealousy. I don’t think that Hannibal works with those kind of emotions or he would never ever admit it. But, let’s say there is. Let’s say that he is the new talk of the town. That can be annoying for a man as Hannibal. First and foremost he is a means to get in touch with Will again. His life is all about one day, Will is gonna come and visit me. This might be my ticket. That’s what he is.
In the scene in kitchen when you jump over, and throw yourself over the counter. We heard that was you actually doing that, that wasn’t a stunt.
Fifty years I’ve been able to jump. I got the chance and … Yeah, yeah. I always do my own stunts.
Do you think that experience of being a gymnast and a dancer, and that training helps you to be so composed as Hannibal?
Yeah, but it would also help me to be all over the place if a different character had to be that. I think it helps me as much in a character called Tony who was in the Pusher film. He’s ADHD, he’s all over the place. I think that is the same awareness. But, I don’t think about it specifically. I think it kind of comes when a character is getting ready to go on the air. It comes to you what kind of energy he’s carrying around with him.
You said you’re cheering for the zombies in the Walking Dead. Aren’t you afraid that people will be cheering for Hannibal, in Hannibal?
No, we have to cheer for Hannibal. We can’t have a show called Hannibal and people hating him. That would be a disaster, of course. People are obviously not cheering for everything he’s doing, and it breaks the authors heart some of the stuff he’s doing. But, if there is the fascination we are hoping for people will have to live with it, and erase it and say, “Well, that was a mistake, but I’ll watch the next one as well.”
Hopefully that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to give life to the fascination of the devil that we will always have as the human race. Then god, and five minutes later we invented the devil for some reason. There’s a fascination there. We can’t have god without the devil. He’s not defined if we don’t have the opposite, right? That fascination is obviously something we play on.
So your take on not just the show, but they get a fascination with the audience for Hannibal is this imagery of the devil? That they see the devil in him?
Yeah, I mean its my approach that he is the fallen angel if not the devil, he’s the fallen angel. The person who sees beauty on the threshold to death, where the rest of us assume horror. He’s not vicious about it. He’s enjoying the beauty of it. It’s a very different approach. He doesn’t enjoy people suffering, or the pain. He enjoys the desperate moment before people die. It has a certain beauty to that, right? Let me not sell that too good. But I think that’s the way he approaches it.
I have a chance to ask Anthony Hopkins when he did Hannibal that question, the why do you think people is fascinate to see devil on the big screen, and its about what you are saying, you know?
I think its been there always. I can’t remember any religion where they don’t have the opposite, you know? It’s man-made, all of it, if you ask me. But, it’s something that we apparently have a need for.
You have a lot of Fannibals. Some of them are very intense. What weird stuff do you get through the mail?
Not through the mail, but, if you go to places where we meet them, or we sign stuff. There’s been a couple of giant X’s with apparently blood on, for signing. You just have to go, “Hopefully that’s an animals blood,” and I’ll sign it. But, they’re very dedicated. It’s a very strong group of people that have found a niche in there that appeals to them. Hopefully it doesn’t inspire them, but just appeals to something.
‘Hannibal: Season 3’ is out on DVD and DIGITAL HD on February 24.
