By all appearances, the critics and the
movie-going public agree. Red Dragon has been embraced by critics as a
well-acted, well-directed film, reminiscent of its award-winning
predecessor, Silence of the Lambs. And the public, well, the box-office
sales speak for themselves. Brett Ratner's first foray into
"dramatic" filmmaking is a resounding success.
No-one was more skeptical than Brett Ratner when he was approached to
direct Red Dragon. During our round-table interview, I had a chance to
talk with him about directing, the importance of a good script and
working with that stellar cast.
Meeting Brett for the first time, the characteristic that one cannot
help but notice is his incredible energy. He sweeps into the room like a
hurricane. One can only imagine how this energy must be contagious on
his movie set. Both Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Fiennes have raved about
how they enjoyed working with him. I can see why. He is just so...hip.
Ratner's coup in securing the director's chair for the latest
installment of the Hannibal Lecter trilogy was as surprising to him as
it was to the movie industry. As Ratner tells it, "I had the script
sent to me by Stacey Snider, the Chairman of Universal, and I am, like,
'Why is she sending me this script? I can't imagine why she thinks that
I'm the guy for this movie'...Then I started feeling really insecure.
I'm thinking, names start going through my head, Ridley Scott, Demme,
you know, I'm thinking 'Oh my God', because I'm not as good as these
guys. Then I saw Ted Tally's name on the script, the guy who wrote
Silence of the Lambs, and I was, like, 'Oh my God, this guy wrote this
script'...I read the script, and I was, like, 'I have to do this script,
it's incredible.' "
"Actually, the funny thing is that I went to meet with Dino de
Laurentiis. She [Stacey Snider] goes, 'We want to give you this movie.
Go meet with Dino de Laurentiis.' I was so excited. And the first thing
he says to me is, 'Why do they like you? I see your movies - why do they
like you so much? Why do they want you for this movie?'"
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