Red Dragon (2002) - 10 questions

Question: When Graham is talking to his wife about joining Crawford on the investigation, she says something about "we're all paid up, even Josh." What does she mean by this?

Answer: What she means is that Graham (and, by extension, his family) has served his country enough, including suffering serious injury and mental trauma in the course of his duties. She feels that, whatever moral debt they might owe their country, they've paid it in full, Graham directly through his actions, and she and Josh through the negative effects his work and its consequences have had on them.

Question: What happened to Special Agent Starling and why isn't she in Red Dragon? And how come the new agent didn't know who Hannibal Lecter is (recognition), when nearly the whole of America (let alone the FBI) had heard/seen at least a picture of him?

Answer: Red Dragon is actually a prequel to Silence of the Lambs. The events took place long before Clarice Starling entered the FBI academy. When Special Agent Will Graham first met Dr. Hanibal Lecter while investigating a case, Lecter had not yet been convicted of any crime. Therefore, no one knew him to be anything other than a noted psychiatrist.

Question: In the scene where you first see Dolarhyde lifting weights, he has some sort of cloth over his face. Is there any significance to this or is it just a weird character trait?

Answer: Its because he deems himself as ugly (as a result of the abuse of his grandma) which why when he kills he smashes all the mirrors in the houses.

Question: When Hannibal is in his exercise cell talking to Will he speaks a few lines in a different accent. Why does he do this?

Answer: It's not unusual for someone to do this to emphasize a particular point, to be sarcastic, or just show off. Lecture was a master manipulator and loved being the center of attention. By slipping into an accent for a few sentences, he jars the listener’s attention.

Question: What did Dolarhyde mean in his letter to Lecter that if Lecter responds next time Dolarhyde will send him something wet?

Answer: It means he will send Lecter a fresh body part from one of his victims.

Question: How did Dolarhyde pick the women that he would kill?

Answer: The two familes had their home movies sent to Chromalux for developing. Dolarhyde is the director of technical services, so he has access to every tape that Chromalux recieves. He discovered Mrs. Leeds and Mrs. Jacobi through their respective home movies.

Question: In Brooklyn, why does Francis Dolarhyde eat the Blake painting? I've watched the movie twice, and I still don't understand that scene.

Answer: Dolarhyde thinks that by eating the painting, he can destroy the Red Dragon from inside of him. He is trying to stop the monster/killer side of his personality because he wants to lead a normal life with Reba.

Question: Why did Brett Ratner bother making this film if, essentially, it's just a scene-for-scene remake of "Manhunter"?

Answer: First, it's not a scene by scene remake - they didn't even use the same script. Secondly, the first movie was made with low production values, the star at the time had only been a bit player in a couple of movies. Since the movie of the second novel was a huge hit in 91, the third novel a hit in 01, plans for a remake of the first novel were probably put into motion before William Petersen made it big on CSI, which didn't even start until late in 2000. And let's face it, everybody wanted to see Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal again.

Question: In the brief scene where Hannibal is having a fancy meal served to him in his cell as a reward for helping Will, what classical piano music is playing in the background? This is just before we see Will and his co-workers watching a home video of the Jacobis.

Answer: I think it's part of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Incidentally, it is part of this piece that is playing when he kills the 2 guards in his cage in The Silence of the Lambs. He is also seen playing part of it himself in Hannibal.

Question: At the beginning of the film, Will Graham discovered that Hannibal Lecter was the murderer he had been searching for. How was he able to do this? All he did was open a book and the word 'WhiteBread' appeared on a page. Could some explain this to me?

Answer: The victims had particular body parts removed. Will saw recipes in the book belonging to Lecter for those particular body parts and made a leap of intuition.