NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Fictional killer Hannibal Lecter, depicted as a monster in three U.S. films, shows up as a victim in the new movie, "Hannibal Rising," the New York Post said.
The main character in a series of books by author Thomas Harris -- beginning with "The Silence of the Lambs" -- is a vicious cannibal. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for his performance as Lecter in 1991.
The task of making the gruesome killer of "Red Dragon" and "Hannibal" appear sympathetic was assigned to 22-year-old French actor Gaspard Ulliel, who plays Lecter throughout much of "Rising."
"I was worried to come after such a great actor in such an amazing role," Ulliel said. "But I was creating my own Hannibal. The goal was to give a more sympathetic aspect to the character, a human aspect, than in the previous films."
"Rising" director Peter Webber said the film reveal's Lecter's troubled past and places the audience in an area of moral ambiguity.
"It begins with sympathy," he told the Post, "and ends with sympathy for the devil."
