30. As it turned out, Harris did have more Lecter stories in him, 1999's Hannibal and 2006's origin story Hannibal Rising, the latter a prequel to all that came before. Both were made into movies (both produced by De Laurentiis, who'd wised up), and Hopkins returned for the Ridley Scott-directed Hannibal, albeit opposite Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling, and again with a wildly different ending from the book. (Confusingly enough, the film Red Dragon, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs and also featuring Hopkins in a few pivotal scenes, came out in 2002, a year after the Hannibal film.)
Of course they tried to get Demme and Foster back for the sequel, but he passed and, though she maintained she always wanted to work with Hopkins again, the scheduling clashed with her plan to direct Flora Plum. (Which actually still remains a passion project in development.)
"I really liked Red Dragon. I liked the original, too—Manhunter—even though it had that kind of Miami Vice feeling to it," Foster told Total Film in 2005. "You know, I don't think you can ever take away what Silence was... The official reason I didn't do Hannibal is I was doing another movie, Flora Plum. So I get to say, in a nice, dignified way, that I wasn't available when that movie was being shot. But Clarice meant so much to Jonathan and I, she really did, and I know it sounds kind of strange to say but there was no way that either of us could really trample on her."
But a line up A-listers had floated their interest in filling her shoes, including Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Hilary Swank and Ashley Judd. The chameleonic Moore, however, was Scott's pick. And when the director checked in with Hopkins, because the franchise "was more his than mine," Scott told the Guardian, the actor said, "Oh, yes, jolly good."
Asked if she ever watched Hannibal, Foster replied, reportedly in a whisper, "I saw Hannibal. I won't comment."