Q&A with Gabriel Bergmoser, author of The Lecter Variations - A History of Hannibal
Tell us a bit about the book.
The Lecter Variations is an analytical deep dive into every corner of the Hannibal franchise, starting with the release of Thomas Harris’ seminal Red Dragon and moving chronologically up to the 2021 TV series Clarice. It explores the behind-the-scenes story of each book, movie and show, but also delves into their merits and pitfalls.
What sets this apart from previous books about the Hannibal films?
Previous books like The Hannibal Files or Making Murder: The Fiction of Thomas Harris were enormously valuable to me when it came to writing this one, but they all tended to focus on one main area – the books, the films, or Harris himself. Since those books were published a lot more has happened in the land of Lecter – most books on the subject predated Harris’ last, Hannibal Rising, and certainly the two TV series. What I wanted to do was write something that would encompass the entire Lecter mythos in all its forms and in doing so explore exactly what it is about this character that sees him reinterpreted again and again in such different forms.
Where did your fascination with the franchise come from?
I first read Red Dragon at 13 – which yes, is pretty young for that book, but has a lot to do with how formative it was for me. I’d never read something so dark and bold and confronting and yet, somehow, still so beautiful and wrenching. That early obsession only deepened with each of the subsequent books and films I managed to get my hands on (usually behind my parents’ backs). I think at that age you’re a bit less critical, and so I pretty much loved them all, even novels like Hannibal or Rising which were critically dismissed. Naturally my opinions have developed over time and many re-reads and watches, but something I wanted to highlight in this book was the aspects of the less-loved corners that are better than we give them credit for.
Who do you think is the best Hannibal Lecter?
It depends on what you want from the character. The best performance is probably Mads Mikkelsen in the TV show, but he didn’t become an overnight popular icon the way Anthony Hopkins did. It’s genuinely hard to compare them – Mikkelsen has far more screen time over three seasons than Hopkins does over three films, and so he’s able to unfurl the nuances of his character over a longer timeline. Hopkins, meanwhile, has to go big early to make an impression. Then there’s Brian Cox, who is the most book-accurate Hannibal in a lot of ways but is less charming and more unsettling than the other too, and therefore would be less fun to watch over an extended period of time. Which maybe is the right approach for a cannibalistic serial killer.
Okay, what about the best film?
I wish I had a more controversial choice than The Silence of the Lambs, but it’s pretty unimpeachable across the board. But it’s worth noting, without for a second minimising the incredible work done on that film, that Silence is by far the easiest Lecter book to adapt. Red Dragon and Hannibal are darker, thornier books with endings so bleak that they have never made it to the screen despite both books being adapted multiple times. There’s so much I love about Michael Mann’s original Red Dragon adaptation Manhunter or Ridley Scott’s take on Hannibal, but both shy away from the most uncomfortable aspects of their respective books, aspects Silence doesn’t have to engage with in the same way.
What can readers expect to learn in your book that they might not have known already?
Depends on what they knew already. Many of the behind-the-scenes stories from say, the making of Silence of the Lambs have been well known for years and so I wasn’t enormously interested in re-treading too much of that stuff, although I certainly touch on it. This is really a book for those who love the whole franchise and are interested in some in-depth discussion that doesn’t stop at the critical darlings.
Given you’re predominantly known as a fiction author, how different was the writing process for The Lecter Variations?
Very much, but not in a bad way. There was something a bit liberating about not having to develop a new story but rather to explore and examine several I know and love so well. Most fiction writers start out as passionate fiction readers, so getting to divert your energy to celebrating something that inspired you so much was really a treat.
Did you discover anything new or surprising while researching the book?
There were a couple of fun little facts about the films and about Thomas Harris himself that I hadn’t known, but nothing especially revelatory. I’ve always been such a nerd for this franchise that most of the trivia about Anthony Hopkins surprising Jodie Foster by imitating her accent or whatever was stuff I’d known for a long time. But what really took me by surprise was the new angles I found on the less celebrated corners of the Lecterverse. I think because I came into writing this book determined to examine everything in the most good faith way possible, it forced me to consider the parts of Hannibal Rising that are surprisingly thought provoking, or the moments where Clarice the TV series comes to life. I’m not saying those moments are enough to claim that either are underrated gems (they’re not), but it can be nice to find real value in stuff you’d previously dismissed.
Are there any other franchises you would write about in the same way?
Maybe Psycho or The Ring, but I feel like I was uniquely placed with Hannibal because I have a lot of time for almost every part of the franchise. With The Ring for example there are films and TV shows and books that you just can’t access in English, and while I love the original four Psycho movies and the TV series Bates Motel, I (somewhat controversially) don’t have much time for the Robert Bloch novels. One thing I learned from The Lecter Variations is that to spend so much time revisiting and writing about this many books and movies and TV shows, you really want to have a base level affection for the majority of them.
How would you sell the Lecter franchise to somebody who might be put off by the horror of it all?
It’s hard to imagine anyone put off by blood and murder would find a lot to connect with in this series, but to me the blood and murder is only part of something much richer. Thomas Harris wrote a series of novels that could be horrifying and beautiful in equal measure, that are as much about people’s need for connection as they are about what the worst of us (and sometimes not the worst of us) are capable of. The adaptations vary in how well they capture this, but most at least retain some of what made Harris’ work so singular and special. I don’t think there’s anything pejorative about calling something ‘horror’, but I think part of why the Lecter stories’ status as horror has always been so hotly debated is because some critics don’t know how to reconcile the terror with the tenderness. But if there’s one thing Harris is so uniquely good at demonstrating, it’s that being human means finding room for both.