by Jon Partridge
This past weekend the Fourth Season of the ATX TV festival got underway here in Austin, Texas. Creators, actors, and fans from the TV world descended upon the city to glean some insight into their favorite shows or potentially meet one of their icons. My preview piece outlines what the lineup was, so this first writeup will focus on one of my most anticipated screenings, that being the first two episodes of the new third season of Hannibal.
If you haven’t seen Hannibal yet, checkout my Why Haven’t You Watched… article on the show from a few years back. This terrifying but sumptuous show has gotten increasingly twisted and brazen in its ambition, and Season 3 looks to continue that trend. The first episode had already aired the preceding Thursday, but the audience was treated to the first-ever screening of Secundo, the following episode.
Not only that, but show runner Bryan Fuller was in attendance and indulged us with a Q&A after the screenings. Might I add, the sight of Bryan Fuller’s exquisite visuals married to Vincenzo Natali’s direction was amazing on the big screen; the Alamo Ritz also showcased the amazing sound design of the show. Read on for some insights to the screening!
The season opener was a gorgeous affair, and Primavera works as a perfect partner to it. A spoiler-free rundown is that the episode starts with a repeat of the blood-soaked Season 2 finale, which is even more gut wrenching (literally) than I remember. It picks up 8 months later; Will is in the hospital recovering and comes to the realization that Hannibal intended for him to survive, and begins his journey to Palermo in search of him. Once there, he links up with an Italian detective who has tried to capture “Il Mostro” once before, and the “gift” left by Hannibal at the end of the premiere carries his hallmarks and prompted him to once again try and capture him.
You go and think Hannibal has hit its peak with disturbing imagery, but then it always finds a way to go one step further. The “heart stag” in this episode is jaw dropping in its conception and execution. A very moving scene juxtaposing a life being saved and a life ending is incredibly moving also. As a whole, the episode is as stunning as the opener and works as a wonderful companion, mirroring the adventures of Hannibal and Bedelia, but instead Will and…well, that would be a spoiler. If you want to know, check the dropdown box below.
Primavera SPOILERS
- Abigail Hobbs appears early on and is in fact the one who delivers the news “the doctors say he knew exactly where to cut us.” It is her declaration that Hannibal intended them to survive that leads them to Europe.
- Abigail Hobbs is not necessarily all she seems to be. This is M. Night Shyamalan shenanigans at play.
- The “heart” shown at the end of last weeks episode is the basis of one of the most disturbing visuals ever seen on the show, being the basis for the reemergence of Hannibal/the Stag in Will’s psyche as he examines the scene.
- The end scene reveals the truth and Fuller said that with a look from a Priest as well as Will it suggests what we have is not just a element of a subconscious but a ghost; Fuller said “both are true.”
The Q&A revealed many insights to the direction of the show and choices regarding plot and character; I’ll summarize these below, but the chance to hear Fuller speak was incredibly enlightening. I attended two panels at which he spoke on Niche Programming and Adaptations at the Fest, so look out for those write ups in the next few days.
Q&A Highlights
- Regarding the season premiere focusing on Hannibal and Bedelia, Fuller remarked that it seemed an organic way to pickup the show — we left off with those characters so should pick up with them. Also, these characters had no idea whether Will and Co. were alive, so why should the audience?
- Fuller used the term “mashup DJs” to describe their work on the show regarding the use of scenes, characters, and dialogue from across the Harris novels.
- The emporium Bedelia shops at in Antipasto was specifically mentioned in the books.
- Scenes cut from Antipasto made Bedelia far more implicit in the murder towards the end of the episode. Other scenes were cut because he hated the hat (described as a “collapsed souffle” and cut of the dress she was wearing in the scenes. Apparently the budget did not allow many production/design staff to travel to Italy so the fitting didn’t go so well in their absence.
- The scene in Antipasto with Anderson at the train station, they color-timed the train to match her coat.
- Filming of Antipasto involved 5 days of shooting in Paris right around the time of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. The police were looking for suspect who was riding a motorbike and wearing leather. You can imagine how that was a problem for filming.
- These new episodes make a lot of use of black and white and changing aspect ratios. Fuller cited their use as a mimicry of their aesthetic used in such films as Rosemary’s Baby or in the works of John Carpenter and Robert Wise. Horror films tend to play with aspect ratios frequently.
- From another panel this weekend, Fuller stated that the first three episodes respectively took a lot of inspiration from The Talented Mr. Ripley, Don’t Look Now, and Bound. The scene in the catacombs in Secundo are inspired by The Third Man.
- Fuller talked about his relationship with Standards and Practices and their rep Joanna Jameson, who he said couldn’t be more supportive. Comments usually come back with “turn down the red” or “no sideboob.” Sex seems more of an issue than violence and he remarked, “America has a fucked up view of the human body. We can do terrible things to it but not beautiful things.”
- This season, Hannibal is essentially “broken hearted.” He’s reckless and wants to be seen. “It’s a good thing he’s travelling with his therapist,” apparently. All the characters now know who he is and the black humor will play to this.
- Episode 9 will feature flashbacks and show Abigail’s time living with Hannibal.
- Fuller described Season 1 as the “bromance,” Season 2 as “the breakup,” and Season 3 as “closure.”
- He also likened the separation between Will and Hannibal to the splitting up of R2D2 and C3PO in The Empire Strikes Back, but couldn’t say which was which.
- Episode 8 of the season will introduce Francis Dolarhyde aka The Red Dragon. We meet him as he is struggling with his sanity; Fuller aimed to imbue the show with a sympathy for the character established within the novel.
- His dream casting addition would be David Bowie as Hannibal’s uncle.
- Episode 8 will be directed by Neil Marshall, director of The Descent, which Fuller stated was his favorite horror film of the past decade. The episode itself will have very little dialogue.
- When the show launched Fuller envisioned 7 seasons; now he sees it spanning 5. If Red Dragon has been told previously in 2 hours he doesn’t need a whole season to deal with it. Now seasons 3 & 4 have merged, the Italian portion feeling like it would have been too stretched out to make a season alone.
- If he gets the chance to make a fourth season it will be the biggest departure from the books yet. The Silence of the Lambs provides the seed but it will be something we haven’t seen before.
Let’s get to see that fourth season, eh? Tune in to Hannibal on NBC Thursday evenings. If you haven’t started yet, get on it.
Photo Credits: Waytao Shing