The Hannibal Rising cast is led by Gaspard Ulliel as Hannibal Lecter, with Aaran Thomas as the young Hannibal, Gong Li as Lady Murasaki, Dominic West as Inspector Popil and Rhys Ifans as the villain, Vladis Grutas. Hannibal Rising (2007), directed by Peter Webber, opened in US theaters on February 9, 2007, and TMDB credits 35 actors in all. Richard Brake, Kevin McKidd, Stephen Walters and Ivan Marevich play Enrikas Dortlich, Petras Kolnas, Zigmas Milko and Bronys Grentz. Helena-Lia Tachovská plays Mischa Lecter, and Richard Leaf and Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė play her parents. The recast at the center is what makes this cast notable. The prequel gives the role of Lecter to Ulliel, a French actor who was 20 when the Czech Film Commission announced the shoot in September 2005, and Anthony Hopkins is not in the credits. Below you will find notes on the twelve top billed actors, how the film was cast and answers to the most common questions.
| # | Actor | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gaspard Ulliel | Hannibal Lecter |
| 2 | Aaran Thomas | Hannibal Lecter (young) |
| 3 | Gong Li | Lady Murasaki |
| 4 | Dominic West | Inspector Popil |
| 5 | Rhys Ifans | Vladis Grutas |
| 6 | Richard Brake | Enrikas Dortlich |
| 7 | Kevin McKidd | Petras Kolnas |
| 8 | Stephen Walters | Zigmas Milko |
| 9 | Ivan Marevich | Bronys Grentz |
| 10 | Helena-Lia Tachovská | Mischa Lecter |
| 11 | Richard Leaf | Father Lecter |
| 12 | Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė | Mother Lecter |
| 13 | Martin Hub | Lothar |
| 14 | Joerg Stadler | Berndt |
| 15 | Hugh Ross | Professor Dumas |
| 16 | Robbie Kay | Kolnas's Son |
| 17 | Zdeněk Dvořáček | Butcher Brother |
| 18 | Timothy Walker | SS Major |
| 19 | Pavel Krátký | Tank Crewman |
| 20 | Michelle Wade | Nanny |
| 21 | Goran Kostić | Kazys 'Pot Watcher' Porvik |
| 22 | Charles Maquignon | Paul The Butcher |
| 23 | Denis Ménochet | Chief of Police |
| 24 | Nancy Bishop | Marielle |
Billing order from the film's credits (TMDB). Actors with a Cinvibe page and characters with a character page are linked.
Also in the cast: Jaroslav Vízner (Onlooker), Elsa Mollien (Female Student), Linda Svobodová (Female Student), Robert Russell (Prison Doctor), Beata Ben Ammar (Astrid Kolnas), Vanesa Novakova (Kolnas's Daughter), Marek Vašut (Captain), Veronika Bellová (First Woman Captive), Lana Likic (Maid), Petra Lustigová (Eva), Petr Hnětkovský (Tank Crewman).
Gaspard Ulliel plays the adult Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising, the young man who reaches Paris and his aunt, Lady Murasaki. The Czech Film Commission announced his casting in September 2005 and described him as a 20 year old French actor. In February 2007, Ulliel told UPI that he had worried about following Anthony Hopkins in the role and that he wanted his Lecter to be more sympathetic than in the earlier films.
Aaran Thomas plays Hannibal Lecter (young), the title character as a boy. TMDB bills him second in the Hannibal Rising cast, directly after Gaspard Ulliel, who is credited as Hannibal Lecter. The credits therefore list two actors for the same character, with Thomas as the boy and Ulliel as the adult Hannibal.
Gong Li plays Lady Murasaki in Hannibal Rising, the aunt Hannibal seeks out in Paris after he escapes the orphanage. Voice of America described the character as his Japanese born aunt by marriage. Gong Li told VOA that Murasaki sees early on that something is wrong with her nephew and tries to teach him the warrior spirit of Bushido, but his thirst for revenge moves beyond her control.
Dominic West plays Inspector Popil in Hannibal Rising, the French police inspector who investigates Hannibal in Paris, and is billed fourth on TMDB. The Czech Film Commission's production page names three cast members (West, Gong Li and Gaspard Ulliel) and records filming in the Czech Republic from October 2005 to January 2006.
Rhys Ifans plays Vladis Grutas in Hannibal Rising, the leader of the band of looters who shelter in the Lecter family's hunting lodge in 1944 and the main villain of the film. Voice of America called his character the brutal ringleader of young Lecter's captors. Ifans was one of the principal cast members the Czech Film Commission named in September 2005, a month before filming started in Prague.
Richard Brake plays Enrikas Dortlich in Hannibal Rising, one of the band of looters led by Vladis Grutas, and is billed sixth on TMDB. The Czech Film Commission's announcement of September 12, 2005 listed Brake in the principal cast with Gaspard Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans and Kevin McKidd. Filming was set to start in Prague on October 10 that year.
Kevin McKidd plays Petras Kolnas in Hannibal Rising, one of the looters around Vladis Grutas, and is billed seventh on TMDB. The credits also give Kolnas a family: Robbie Kay plays Kolnas's Son, Vanesa Novakova plays Kolnas's Daughter and Beata Ben Ammar plays Astrid Kolnas. McKidd was one of the five actors the Czech Film Commission named in September 2005 for the Prague shoot.
Stephen Walters plays Zigmas Milko in Hannibal Rising, one of the looters led by Vladis Grutas who shelter in the Lecter hunting lodge in 1944. TMDB bills him eighth, between Kevin McKidd and Ivan Marevich. Each looter is a separate named role, and Goran Kostić is credited further down the list as Kazys 'Pot Watcher' Porvik.
Ivan Marevich plays Bronys Grentz in Hannibal Rising, a member of the band of looters led by Vladis Grutas, and is billed ninth on TMDB. He closes the group of looters billed directly after Rhys Ifans. Ifans, Richard Brake, Kevin McKidd, Stephen Walters and Marevich fill fifth to ninth place in the credits, and the actors playing the Lecter family are billed next.
Helena-Lia Tachovská plays Mischa Lecter in Hannibal Rising, the little sister of Hannibal Lecter. She and Hannibal are the only survivors when a Soviet tank wrecks the family's refuge, and her death in the winter that follows sets up the rest of the story. TMDB bills her tenth, the first of the three Lecter family roles that come after the looters in the credits.
Richard Leaf plays Father Lecter in Hannibal Rising, head of the family living in the castle in 1944 Lithuania as the war reaches the Baltic region. Early in the film, the family flees to a hunting lodge in the woods. TMDB bills Leaf eleventh, between Helena-Lia Tachovská and Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, so the three family roles appear together in the credits.
Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė plays Mother Lecter in Hannibal Rising, the mother of Hannibal and Mischa in the 1944 opening. Lithuania's public broadcaster LRT describes Dapkūnaitė as a Lithuanian actor, so the film's Lithuanian prologue includes an actor from Lithuania. She is billed twelfth on TMDB, the last of the three Lecter family roles, which begin with Mischa.
The Hannibal Rising cast was assembled in 2005, when the project was called Behind the Mask: Young Hannibal. The Czech Film Commission announced the principal names on September 12, 2005. That notice named Gaspard Ulliel as the young Hannibal and Gong Li as Lady Murasaki, with Rhys Ifans, Richard Brake and Kevin McKidd completing the principal cast. Peter Webber directed from a screenplay by Thomas Harris, who adapted his own novel. Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis and Tarak Ben Ammar produced.
TMDB credits Leo Davis and Nancy Bishop for casting, and Bishop also appears on screen as Marielle (billed 24th). The commission's production page says filming ran from October 2005 to January 2006. Locations included Prague streets, the Rudolfinum, Barrandov Studios, Kost castle and Villa Tugendhat in Brno, so much of the 1940s and 1950s Europe on screen was filmed in the Czech Republic. For the plot, runtime and release details, see the hannibal rising film page.
Hannibal Rising recasts its title character, so Gaspard Ulliel and Aaran Thomas are new to the role and Anthony Hopkins does not return. Hopkins, who UPI notes won an Oscar for playing Lecter in 1991, does not appear in the TMDB credits. Two actors share the role there: Thomas is credited as Hannibal Lecter (young), and Ulliel is credited as Hannibal Lecter.
Ulliel told UPI that he had worried about following Hopkins and that he set out to create his own, more sympathetic version of the character. He told Voice of America that his job was not to imitate or copy Hopkins. Peter Webber said his team took apart the performance in The Silence of the Lambs and borrowed a few details, so audiences could believe this young man might become the older Lecter. The rest of the cast, from Gong Li to the looters around Rhys Ifans, play characters from Lecter's youth. To see how this prequel fits with the other films, the guide to the hannibal movies covers every entry.
| Director | Peter Webber |
|---|---|
| Writers | Thomas Harris |
| Producers | Tarak Ben Ammar, Dino De Laurentiis, Martha De Laurentiis |
| Music | Shigeru Umebayashi |
| Cinematography | Ben Davis |
Gaspard Ulliel played the adult Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal Rising. Aaran Thomas played him as a boy and is credited as Hannibal Lecter (young). TMDB bills Ulliel first and Thomas second among the 35 credited actors. The Czech Film Commission announced the casting of Ulliel in September 2005 and described him as a 20 year old French actor.
The villain in Hannibal Rising is Vladis Grutas, played by Rhys Ifans. Grutas leads the band of looters who take shelter in the Lecter hunting lodge in 1944. Richard Brake, Kevin McKidd, Stephen Walters and Ivan Marevich are billed directly after Ifans as his men Dortlich, Kolnas, Milko and Grentz.
No, Anthony Hopkins is not in Hannibal Rising, and his name does not appear in the film's TMDB credits. The prequel recasts Lecter with Gaspard Ulliel. Peter Webber told Voice of America that his team studied the performance in The Silence of the Lambs and borrowed a few elements, so audiences could believe Ulliel might grow into that later Lecter.
Gaspard Ulliel was 20 when the Hannibal Rising shoot was announced in September 2005, a month before filming began in Prague. The Czech Film Commission described him as a 20 year old French actor in that announcement. Filming ran from October 2005 to January 2006, and UPI described him as 22 at the time of the US release in February 2007.
Gong Li played Lady Murasaki in Hannibal Rising, the aunt Hannibal seeks out in Paris after he escapes the orphanage. She is billed third on TMDB, and the Czech Film Commission named her alongside Gaspard Ulliel in its September 2005 cast announcement. She told Voice of America that Murasaki tries to teach her nephew the spirit of Bushido.
No, Anthony Hopkins did not return for Hannibal Rising, and his name is not in the film's TMDB credits. The 2007 prequel is built around a new lead, Gaspard Ulliel, with Gong Li, Dominic West and Rhys Ifans in the main supporting roles. TMDB credits Leo Davis and Nancy Bishop with casting the film's 35 credited actors.
Hannibal TV show season 4 has no confirmed renewal or release date as of November 11, 2026.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris is the 1981 crime novel that introduced Hannibal Lecter.
Buffalo Bill's dog in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), directed by Jonathan Demme, is Precious, played by a Bichon Frise named Darla.