This is cool.

Interesting that they made his eyes red. They weren't red in the last movie, but they are in the novels.

I read this book, and I gotta say, I loved it. People I know who've read it either loved it or hated it. Most of the people who hated it had never read the first book (or, more correctly, the second; many people don't realize that this series is a trilogy), and didn't understand that the film was different from the book, and that the book, Hannibal, is not a novelized sequel to the film, "Silence of the Lambs," but is the culmination of a true trilogy, the final chapter of the mystery of who -- and what -- Dr. Lecter is supposed to be.

By the same token, a lot of people who did read the book are afraid that the finished film will disappoint them, and I think it's bound to, because they're expecting the film "Hannibal" to be a direct film adaptation of the novel (or, if not expecting, they think that it should be), rather than what it will be, which is a sequel to the film "SotL."

"Silence of the Lambs" was a great movie. So great, in fact, that it's one of those rare instances where you don't come away from it saying "good movie, but the book was better." The book wasn't better, but it was different, and it was a great book. This story was wonderfully told in two different mediums, which is something that rarely happens. Whether a novelization is made of an already existing film, or a film is adapted from a novel, somewhere in the transition things manage to get botched up so that the second verson is only a pale imitation of the original. Not so with Silence. Things were changed -- things had to be changed to fit the format -- but the film stood up next to the novel as a great work of art in its own right. I have faith that this will be pulled off again with the film "Hannibal." My concern is not that it won't be as good as the book (I'm going to try my darnedest not to compare it to the book), but that it won't be as good as the first film. Sequels rarely are. Even if it's not, though, I bet it will still be a kick-ass movie, and I'm looking forward to finally getting to see it. Til then, I'll sit back and enjoy the hype.