Hannibal Lecter coming back to big screen

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Hollywood is getting ready for another serving of Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, Daily Variety reported Friday.

The paper said Thomas Harris -- whose novels "The Silence of the Lambs," "Red Dragon" and "Hannibal" have been made into hit movies -- is working on a fourth Hannibal book. Dino De Laurentiis -- who produced the movie versions of "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon" -- is planning to produce the new Lecter story, "Behind the Mask," for a 2006 theatrical release.

This one will not likely feature Anthony Hopkins in the role that won him an Oscar in 1991, since the story focuses on Lecter as a child.

Bantam Dell announced Thursday it will publish the book, set in the 1940s in Europe. Variety said little information has come out yet about the character of Lecter as a young boy, except that he is a loner with a high IQ whose feelings for other people alternate between empathy and antipathy.