Continuity mistake: When Clarice is opening the letter written to her by Hannibal, it is sealed with wax, and not glued down in any way. While she's reading it, Hannibal is shown licking an envelope. (00:32:05)
Hannibal (2001)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Liotta
Factual error: When Hannibal calls Clarice and gives her 3 seconds to change the battery on the phone, it is possible to change the battery in 3 seconds but you would have to turn the phone back on and let it initialize which would make the whole process take longer than 3 seconds. (01:33:17)
Factual error: At the end of the film, Ray Liotta wouldn't be able to raise his eyebrows as the frontalis muscle had been divided. (01:57:10)
Trivia: At the end of the opening credits, just after "Screenplay by David Mamet" and before "directed by Ridley Scott", look at the right hand side of the screen - you can see Hannibal's face drawn by pigeons. (00:04:25)
Trivia: In the brain eating scene, the piece of brain Ray Liotta eats is actually a piece of cooked chicken.
Trivia: In the scene where the pickpocket is trying to get Hannibal's fingerprint on his bracelet, the cinema in the background has a poster for Gladiator - also directed by Ridley Scott.
Mason Verger: I guess you wish now that you fed the rest of me to the dogs.
Hannibal Lecter: No Mason. No I much prefer you the way you are.
Hannibal Lecter: Tell me Clarice, would you ever say to me "Stop. If you loved me, you'd stop"?
Clarice Starling: Not in a thousand years.
Hannibal Lecter: "Not in a thousand years " That's my girl.
Hannibal Lecter: On a related note I must confess to you, I'm giving very serious thought... to eating your wife.
Question: How did Hannibal manage to make it onto a commercial airplane at the end of the movie? Even if he had a fake ID, wouldn't being on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list make it virtually impossible for him to get through a high security place like an airport, where the feds would likely instruct security staff to stop anyone that even remotely resembles him? The fact that he cut off his own hand at the end of the film would make him easier to spot, as the FBI would definitely share that new detail about him.
Answer: As seen in the first film and in this one, Lecter demonstrates an almost supernatural ability for eluding the law and seemingly being in two places at once. This film was made in the year 2000, before airport security became extremely tight in late 2001. At that time (before 9/11), it was still possible to enter an airport's main concourse through the baggage claim or even from the tarmac without passing through rigorous security. As ingenious as Lecter was, he could have accessed the airport in a number of ways back then. Relieving another passenger of his boarding pass and identification would be no problem for Lecter, either (simply leave the passenger's body in an airport toilet and assume his identity). For the most part, it was Lecter's calm, self-confident charm that allowed him to slither through society always ten steps ahead of the law.
Answer: Perhaps he bribed his way through security onto the plane. Or maybe he murdered anyone who even remotely challenged him. He was probably wearing a disguise. It's possible that he had been planning this whole thing for an unspecified amount of time. And don't forget: he is a genius. And determined. He wouldn't let a little thing like protocol get in the way of his escape.
Answer: There is an assumption that he cut his hand off in the end. Ask yourself this for a very graphic movie why did they not show the chopped of hand. You just hear the chop but no sound from Lecter and only an emotional reaction from Starling. It is only alluded to and even if he did happen to chop it off he would be in so much pain as he acknowledged this was going to hurt he would not have been able to escape without help from Starling.
On the plane, you only see him use his right hand, and his left arm is in a sling. Further explaining, he did cut his own hand off to be freed. If he cut Starling's hand off, she would have possibly bled to death, or at least enough that she couldn't have run for him.
Question: Why did Paul Krendler dislike Clarice so much, and why did he ruin her career?
Answer: In the book it says that Clarice had caught Buffalo Bill before he could. It said also that is why he hated her early in the book.
Answer: Starling says to Krendler "Paul, what is it with you? I told you to go home to your wife, that was wrong?", implying that he had made a pass at her and she had rejected him. He replies that it was a long time ago, and that he didn't hold it against her, but combined with Mason Verger's bribe this was most likely the cause of his antagonism towards Starling.
Question: Why did the pigs not attack Lecter when he picked up Clarice? They went straight for the fat guy handcuffed to his accomplice and also to Verger but by passed Lecter. I thought it might be a blood thing which is why Lecter picked Clarice up after she was shot but A - Lecter doesn't know anything about the pigs and B - Mason wasn't bleeding before he got eaten.
Answer: The implication is that the boars are afraid of Lecter, which is why they don't attack him - he shows no fear and exudes dominance.
Next to that the pigs are trained to attack anything that screams. Hannibal stayed calm and thus was ignored.
Didn't Verger describe the pigs (by mentioning their molars and incisors) to Lecter when he was first brought to Verger strapped to the dolly?
He also didn't scream or make noise to get their attention.
I'm inclined to agree here. The boars could sense that Lecter was the most savage predator in the pit, and the animals steered clear of him for that reason. Call it "professional courtesy."
Answer: The implication is that savage animals recognize Lecter as another, even more savage animal. Call it kinship. Lecter has the same effect on attack dogs.
Answer: Probably the same reason the Alsatian dog of Krendler didn't attack him either.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Suggested correction: Please provide evidence, including the make, model, and duration of the initialization process of the phone, to substantiate this statement. It's not known from the information available that it isn't possible to hot swap the battery, meaning it's quite possible in 3 seconds.
Tell you what, why don't you give us all the make and model of phone which can be turned off, have its battery replaced, and then boot back up again, in 3 seconds. It's not remotely possible on any phone, old or new. Anyone who was using cellphones in the era this phone was made knows it, or indeed now for that matter.