Less than a month after wrapping HANNIBAL, ANTHONY HOPKINS is already in talks to re-shoot the first novel in THOMAS HARRIS' chilling horror trilogy - RED DRAGON.

In a twist Harris would be proud of, it will be the team's second attempt to dramatise the same story. Their 1986 version MANHUNTER, directed by MICHAEL MANN and starring BRIAN COX, now viewed as a cult flick, was a box office flop. Consequently, in a moment best forgotten, producer DINO DE LAURENTIIS passed on the opportunity to make Oscar-winning SILENCE OF THE LAMBS - which swept the 1992 Academy Awards thanks to JODIE FOSTER and ANTHONY HOPKINS' memorable double act.

Not wishing to make the same mistake twice, De Laurentiis forked out $8 million (£5.3 million) for the rights to third-novel Hannibal. To ensure the same can't happen again, he's already commissioned screenwriter TED TALLY to write a revised script for RED DRAGON. Tally won an Oscar for his adaptation of Silence of the Lambs. Red Dragon tells the story of FBI agent, WILL GRAHAM, who's brought out of retirement to catch a killer called THE TOOTH FAIRY. As in Silence of the Lambs, HANNIBAL LECTOR assists him from behind bars.

Anthony Hopkins has already expressed an interest in the project, dependent on the quality of the script. Hannibal, directed by RIDLEY SCOTT and starring JULIANNE MOORE as FBI agent CLARENCE STARLING, is released in Britain on 16 February 2001.

(JD/WN/RGS)

Source: WENN