Based on Thomas Harris' 1981 best-selling novel, a prequel to The Silence of the Lambs (1988) and Hannibal (1999), in which serial killer Hannibal Lector is first introduced. Oscar®-nominee Edward Norton stars as ex-FBI agent Will Graham, an expert investigator who quit the Bureau after almost losing his life in the process of capturing the elusive Dr. Lector, played again by Academy Award®-winner Anthony Hopkins. Years later, after a series of particularly grisly murders, Graham reluctantly agrees to come out of retirement and assist in the case. But he soon realizes that the best way to catch this killer, known as the Tooth Fairy, is to find a way to get inside the killer's mind. And the closest thing to that would be to probe the mind of another killer who is equally brilliant and equally twisted. For Graham, that means confronting his past and facing his former nemesis, the now-incarcerated Lector. Oscar®-nominee Ralph Fiennes plays Francis Dolarhyde. The Newmarket Shooting Script® includes the complete screenplay by Ted Tally, an introduction by Tally, 20 b/w film stills, and the film's complete credits.

本作は、過剰な共感能力が捜査官の自己を蝕む恐怖を描いた心理スリラーの金字塔です。ハリスが描く「犯人の心に同化する」という危うさは、善悪の境界を曖昧にし、読者の精神をも深淵へと誘います。人間が内なる獣へと変容する過程を冷徹に抉り出した、文学的香気漂う至高の悲劇と言えるでしょう。 テッド・タリーの脚本は、原作の緻密な内面描写を映画的な緊張感へと見事に昇華させました。名優たちが肉体を与えたことで、テキストに潜む狂気がより鮮烈な存在感を放ち、活字の沈黙と映像の戦慄が互いを高め合う見事な相乗効果を生んでいます。この闇に触れることは、人間性の本質を問う濃密な体験となるはずです。