Synopsis:

The goal for this fan edit of Hannibal (2001) was to reincorporate every deleted scene and as much of the alternate ending as possible into the movie, while removing a minimal amount of footage from the official final cut. For the deleted scenes that are more accurately described as alternate, longer takes of scenes already existing in the official cut, my approach was to augment the official takes with the “nonoverlapping” parts of the alternate takes. The intent was to create a movie that stays true to the original film, but provides some welcomed narrative clarity, flavor, and breathing room to a dense movie that was trimmed down to reduce runtime. This edit adds 21 minutes of additional footage for a new total runtime of 152 minutes. This fan edit is exported at 1920×1040 resolution, but the only publicly available deleted scene /alternate ending footage exists at ~712×400 resolution. Therefore it is visibly noticeable when footage switches from official to deleted, or vice versa. The extent to which this harms immersion will vary from person to person, but I feel the extra footage nonetheless enriches the movie. Relatedly, the official cut has a 5.1 surround sound option, but the deleted scene / alternate ending footage is only available in stereo. This fan edit is exported as stereo to make the frequent audio blends more seamless. A custom English subtitle track is included as well.

Intentions:

I made various efforts to achieve a seamless viewing experience: 1). Color correcting deleted footage, including studying the luminosity and color charts, and comparing similar frames from official vs. deleted footage. There were a few times where reaching color parity was seemingly not possible due to major differences in lighting (such as during Pazzi's initial meeting with Dr. Fell). In those cases, I graded the colors as closely to the official footage as possible. 2). Ensuring transitions between deleted and official footage (or vice versa) were as smooth as possible: * No sounds that are "cut-off" from shot-to-shot. * Making background noises/ambiences match. Examples include adding the subtle ominous hum when Pazzi first meets Dr. Fell in the official footage to the deleted scene additions of the meeting, or during the last sequence adding the sound of the plane engine that can be heard in the background of the official footage to the deleted scene additions, etc. * If I had to extend background music to accommodate deleted footage, I rearranged or augmented the music so that it would sound natural when played in the new sequence order. This often involved using software (freely available online) to separate dialogue from background sounds/music. * Having transitions lead into the next scene in a natural way (difficult sometimes because some of the deleted footage cuts off abruptly). I did attempt using AI to enhance the lower resolution deleted footage, but despite trying every enhancement model I could with varying settings/recovery detail, I personally struggled to produce visuals I felt looked convincingly "real". I ultimately chose to forgo the AI route this time around. I might consider another effort with AI again at a later time (especially as the technology matures) so that I can offer both AI-enhanced and non-AI enhanced versions of this fan edit, if there is sufficient interest. I do think it makes sense to offer a non-AI enhanced version for the purists out there, and I am happy to present this work in its current form.

Change List:

(The following section contains major *SPOILERS* for the story. For anyone who has not seen this movie in any form, reading ahead could ruin your first viewing experience). There are 13 deleted scenes and one alternate ending publicly released. This fan edit reincorporates all of them into the movie. Specifically these scenes are: 1). Fish Market Aftermath: Clarice welcomes a colleague into her home to mourn the loss of life from the fish market operation. 2). Return to the Dungeon: Clarice revisits the now-abandoned Baltimore State Forensic Hospital where she first met Hannibal Lecter several years prior. 3). X-ray Comparison: Clarice consults with a doctor concerning two different x-rays of Dr. Lecter’s arm. 4). “Dear Clarice…”: An alternate sequence featuring a different piano melody and extended monologue for Hannibal’s letter writing montage. 5). Pazzi’s Password: Inspector Pazzi needs a password to access private VICAP files belonging to the FBI. 6). Perfume Shop: Inspector Pazzi covertly tails Dr. Lecter in an extended sequence in Florence. 7). Romula: Pazzi witnesses a local pickpocket snatch a wallet from a well-dressed businessman. 8). Il Mostro Case: This "deleted scene" is actually a compilation of multiple scenes taking place in Florence. Most of them either feature the "Il Mostro" killer, or discussions about the active "Il Mostro" case being pursued by the Questura. 9). Lecter Leaves Florence: Hannibal escapes Florence after concluding his business with Pazzi. 10). Barney and the Boars: Barney arrives at the Verger compound with the intention of selling a special keepsake. 11). Coming to America: Dr. Lecter naps on a plane headed to America. 12). Coveting Clarice: Hannibal stalks Clarice through the forest and breaks into her car in an extended sequence. 13). Planning the Meal: Dr. Lecter catches a TV interview with Paul Krendler while out shopping for supplies. 14). Alternate Ending: A slightly different sequence of events following the "dinner party" at Paul Krendler’s lake house. The majority of deleted scenes, by virtue of their subject matter, insinuate where they belong in the story fairly naturally. Therefore I didn't think it was necessary to provide an in-depth breakdown on scene placement. In the rare instance where the context of a deleted scene does not lend itself neatly to a location in the narrative, I will explain my placement decision further down below. Aside from the necessary choices in smoothing out transitions between added/cut/rearranged footage, and color correcting deleted scene footage, I wanted to keep the number of editorial creative decisions to a minimum. Nonetheless, there are several exceptions which I attempt to explain or justify below: * During the last part of the opening credits montage, the pigeons are arranged on screen to resemble Dr. Lecter’s face. I added a small Gaussian blur effect to help bring out the face, as it can be easy to miss with the intro sequence bombarding your senses. * In the deleted scene where Clarice is exploring the abandoned Baltimore State Forensic Hospital, Dr. Lecter’s voice can be heard speaking the line "Are you paying attention to me, ex-Special Agent Starling?". This exact line is spoken by Hannibal later in the movie while he is shadowing Clarice at the mall. It appears the line was added to the deleted scene as a placeholder, and the sequence was cut before an update was made. I replaced it with a concatenation of two lines by Dr. Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs (1991): "What is your worse memory from childhood? […] Tell me about it, and don’t lie, or I’ll know." * One deleted scene features Clarice with a doctor evaluating x-rays of Dr. Lecter’s arm. Realistically this scene must come after Clarice gets the second x-ray from Barney, but before the movie transitions to the Florence section (once the Florence section begins, viewers will stop caring about or remembering the x-rays—if they cared at all). Therefore I split the "Barney and Clarice" sequence into two pieces and placed this deleted scene in-between. For the second portion of the "Barney and Clarice" scene, I changed the image to black-and-white and added extended musical cues to suggest it is occurring "out of time," such as during a recollection. * There is a deleted scene in which Inspector Pazzi observes a gypsy woman named Romula pickpocket a couple businessmen, and he stops her to confiscate the stolen wallet. Originally it was written that Romula would work together with Gnocco to get Dr. Lecter’s fingerprint; however, that idea was dropped after this scene was filmed, making this deleted scene an "orphan" story-wise. I placed this scene right after the transition to Florence as a way to repurpose it as an introduction to Pazzi’s character. I feel this makes thematic sense because when placed at this early point, the scene is ambiguous as to whether Pazzi is a cop, criminal, or both—which happens to be a central line and conflict for him in the story. It also reveals that Pazzi knows who the local pickpockets are, which explains why he chooses to use one for his fingerprint scheme later in the movie (perhaps knowing these pickpockets is what inspired his plan in the first place). * I horizontally flipped the deleted scene footage of Pazzi entering the library so that he would be entering from right-to-left. This is for two reasons: the following scene has Pazzi walking from right-to-left through the atrium, and also I wanted to distinguish his directional movement from an earlier relatively lengthy deleted sequence where Pazzi walks from left-to-right as several bicyclists ride past him. * I rearranged the order of Dr. Sogliato’s monologue during the sequence where Inspector Pazzi walks through the library so as to accommodate the extended deleted scene footage. I also added a pause when the janitor, a.k.a. “Il Mostro”, glares at Pazzi as he walks past him. This is so the viewer can focus on Il Mostro’s face without distraction, hopefully increasing the likelihood of recognizing him later. * In the official cut, Dr. Sogliato speaks the line “The Capponi Correspondence dates back to the 13th century” twice while interviewing Dr. Fell (it’s the same line read). I removed one of those instances. * I added background music to the deleted sequence where Inspector Pazzi points out the Botticelli connection to his colleagues at the Questura. I used Let My Home Be My Gallows by Hans Zimmer from the Hannibal (2001) soundtrack. * In preparation for his lecture to the Studiolo, Hannibal pulls down a projector screen which falls from the ceiling. The filmmakers shot a full sequence of the screen falling from a front-facing angle, but the official cut only contains the first 75% of this shot, and the deleted scene footage only contains the last 75%. I stitched together these two pieces by blending the overlapping frames to create the full shot in this edit. This is the only instance in this project where footage switches from official to deleted (or vice versa) in the same shot. * In the deleted scenes, Il Mostro is seen twice during the sequence where Dr. Lecter subdues and subsequently kills Inspector Pazzi. The untouched footage is slightly red-tinted when Il Mostro appears on screen; additionally, there is a blue-tinted shot of Hannibal exchanging glances with Il Mostro while fleeing Florence. It felt as though maybe there was a suggestion that, as killers occupying the same space, Il Mostro has a "red" aura (he targets lovers, is motivated by passion) and Hannibal has a contrasting "blue" aura (he is intellectual and calculating, is motivated by advanced moral judgment). In any case I thought it was a neat idea, so I leaned into it a bit: rather than color correct these tints away, I added a pinch more red and blue to the shots, respectively. * The background music present in the deleted scene where Dr. Lecter flies back to America from Florence was repurposed in the official release for the sequence where Hannibal stalks Clarice running through the forest. To avoid having the same music play for back-to-back sequences, I added a different background track for this deleted scene. I used Avarice by Hans Zimmer from the Hannibal (2001) soundtrack. I was unable to completely separate the original music track from the sound effects, so I overlayed the new track over a modified version of the old sound design with all the peak sound cues removed (the "improvised" end result is that Avarice provides the melody and the original music is meant to act as a "hum"/baseline). * For the ending, I broke my own rule of removing the least amount of footage from the official release as possible: I chose to use the alternate ending footage of Clarice chasing Dr. Lecter after he escapes again, rather than the official footage. In the alt-ending footage, Clarice carries a gun when she exits the house to chase Hannibal down, whereas in the official movie she runs out of the house unarmed. I understand if there was no gun available, her best option is still to chase Hannibal so she can alert authorities of his last known position. Additionally, there is no evidence in the either the official or deleted footage of a loaded gun in the house (we do see Clarice’s gun, minus the ammo clip. Presumably Krendler also had a gun on his person when arriving at the lake house, and it is possible there would be other guns in the house that Clarice could have found). Nonetheless, I preferred the alt-chase sequence for a couple reasons: ** The chase has more stakes when Clarice has a firearm, as this means she can actually do something to stop Hannibal if she catches him. That makes it a better chase sequence, in my opinion. ** The alt-chase sequence is about twice as long, allowing for more suspense, a longer fireworks sequence, and a 60% speed slow-mo shot of Clarice’s face in her final scene (I added the slow-mo because I felt Clarice’s final shot deserved more weight as a reward for her integrity/incorruptibility throughout the film). * The alternate ending includes a getaway scene of Dr. Lecter walking to a convenience store, getting into a van, and driving away from the lake area. Since this was filmed before the "hand chopping" bit was added to the ending, he still has both hands in this footage. In order to include this getaway in the fan edit, I could only use frames where the left hand is not visible. Therefore this scene is incorporated into the project as a series of jump cuts. * Given the new lengthy runtime of 152 minutes, I thought it might be more digestible to frame the movie like a 3-part miniseries, with the natural act breaks suggested by the "intro" section vs. the "Florence" section vs. the "return to the US" section. Therefore, as my largest creative adjustment to the film, I added three new chapter titles to introduce each of these segments. For the font, I tried cursive matching the official movie’s title card, but it was somewhat difficult to read. I ended up using the freely available "Tymes Little Caps" font, which is approximately the same font used in the title card for the Hannibal TV show (which is also worth checking out!). I chose the following titles: ** Part I: Deep Roll I hope for this to have a double meaning, as one could argue that not just Clarice, but also Mason Verger, is a "deep roller" in this story. Both Clarice and Mason begin their deep roll chasing after Lecter in this part of the story. Monsters is plural as it refers not just to Hannibal, but also "Il Mostro," whose full serial killer nickname translates to "The Monster of Florence" (based on a real serial killer who was active in Florence from 1968 to 1985). He is relevant in this fan edit because the deleted scenes feature Dr. Lecter repeatedly taunting Inspector Pazzi with questions about the Il Mostro case. One might argue Pazzi is yet another "monster" for allowing a man to die for him in his greedy pursuit of personal gain, and showing little to no remorse (alternatively, one could argue he does show remorse in an internalized way by doubling down on his commitment to personally oversee the capturing of Dr. Lecter out of spite/anger, but even that might be considered monstrous behavior in its own way). ** Part II: The Monsters of Florence Monsters is plural as it refers not just to Hannibal, but also "Il Mostro," whose full serial killer nickname translates to "The Monster of Florence" (based on a real serial killer who was active in Florence from 1968 to 1985). He is relevant in this fan edit because the deleted scenes feature Dr. Lecter repeatedly taunting Inspector Pazzi with questions about the Il Mostro case. One might argue Pazzi is yet another "monster" for allowing a man to die for him in his greedy pursuit of personal gain, and showing little to no remorse (alternatively, one could argue he does show remorse in an internalized way by doubling down on his commitment to personally oversee the capturing of Dr. Lecter out of spite/anger, but even that might be considered monstrous behavior in its own way). ** Part III: Dinner for Pigs The Hannibal Lecter series of stories is rich in metaphors relating animal behavior to human behavior. I hope for this title to have a triple meaning: it could refer to Mason’s pigs (who receive an unexpected feast), Paul Krendler (who acts like a chauvinist pig towards Clarice, and is treated to his own special dinner), and even Hannibal himself, who prepares to eat dinner in the last sequence of the film (e.g. one might consider Dr. Lecter a "pig" in the sense that pigs are highly intelligent animals, yet they also embrace their base instincts to overindulge and roll in their own muck—such as when Hannibal sniffs and licks the steering wheel of Clarice’s car).

Other Sources:

1). The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 4K Ultra HD release from the Criterion Collection. (Amazon ID: B077HP1DSS). 2). The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for Hannibal (2001) composed by Hans Zimmer through Amazon Music. (Amazon ID: B0000584XX).

Special Thanks:

I want to give special thanks to everyone in the community willing to invest their time and energies into reading about and/or helping to evaluate this fan edit--especially since this is my first attempt at creating one!