Why Anthony Hopkins and Brian Cox never talk Hannibal Lecter

When Cox signed on to play the character in Michael Mann’s thriller, he based his performance on the little-known Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel. Convicted of murdering seven people between 1956 and 1958 in Lanarkshire and southern Scotland, Manuel displayed no sense of right or wrong, a trait Cox found chilling during his research. This inspired Cox to play ‘Lecktor’ in a restrained, non-flashy manner, believing the character’s seeming normality made him far more terrifying. Over time, the understated power of Cox’s performance has been increasingly appreciated, but at the time, both his portrayal and the film itself struggled to leave a significant critical or commercial impact.

Fast forward five years, though, and Hopkins’ performance as Lecter struck an almighty chord. To his credit, Cox has always refused to be drawn on whether he thinks he was better than Hopkins in the role, instead choosing to point out that their interpretations are so wildly different. In 2024, he told The Hollywood Reporter, “Well, it’s a different character. I mean, it’s like playing Hamlet. Everybody’s going to have their own Hamlet. I chose to play it the way the director, Michael Mann, and I decided to play it. Tony played it brilliantly.”

When he spoke to Comic Book in 2019, Cox admitted that he prefers his less obviously “evil” interpretation of the character, although he conceded that the world may disagree. After all, Hopkins’ more theatrical version is now the accepted form of Lecter in all his subsequent interpretations, such as the prequel Hannibal Rising and Mads Mikkelsen’s TV show Hannibal.

Cox mused, “Lecter is a great character…because he seems so prosaic, and it’s his very prosaicness, which makes him quite horrible. But if you play it like, ‘Clarice, I’m here waiting for you,’ I think that’s unnecessary. But that’s a choice. And it certainly worked, and he did very well.”

Amusingly, there is only one thing Cox has ever admitted to being jealous of when it comes to Hopkins’ portrayal of Lecter. He told THR, “Tony decided to take it down another route. And, of course, Tony’s was a huge success and he got the Oscar, and he made a lot of money out of it. I made something like ten grand.”

Unfortunately for fans who might relish the idea of these two legends of British cinema sitting down to discuss their approaches to Lecter, Brian Cox has admitted that such a meeting is highly unlikely. Why? Because the two actors long ago agreed on an unwritten rule: they would never talk about their respective portrayals of Lecter. The reason? To avoid any perception that one was trying to outdo the other.

When asked by THR if they’ve ever discussed the role, Cox explained, “We do not discuss it. I’ll tell you why. I did an interview with a newspaper, and the headline in the newspaper was that I was the first Hannibal Lecter. Well, that was true, but it sounded like I was boasting about it, and I wasn’t.” The next thing Cox knew, his phone was ringing off the hook and “all hell broke loose.”

You see, Cox and Hopkins had the same agent at that time, and that agent had just received an irate phone call from Hopkins’ then-wife. She told him, “Tony’s a bit upset about that,” even though Cox didn’t intend to try to steal his thunder in any way. From then on, Cox and Hopkins figured it was better to leave Lecter out of their conversations.

Cox confirmed: “Tony and I have worked together a couple of times since. We never talk about it. And that’s a rule that we never would.”

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