Hannibal (2001) - 7 questions

Question: Why did Paul Krendler dislike Clarice so much, and why did he ruin her career?

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: Did Hannibal like Clarice? The perfume in the letter, the fact that he saved her, and cut off his own arm. He could have easily killed her. What was it about her that he liked, or respected?

Answer: There are many factors here, and his feelings for Clarice are complicated. He's attracted to her in a physical male/female way, and probably loved her as much as he was capable, but, as seen in the first film (and book), it is also her unpretentious innocence, honesty, and vulnerability that drew him to her, causing him to be protective. She is the "lamb" who never inflicts harm on anyone, nor does she ever pretend to be anybody other than who she is. Hannibal's victims lacked those characteristics, and he felt no inhumanity or remorse whatsoever when he killed them.

Question: Why, in the opening scene, do Clarisse and the FBI have a huge chunk of dry ice in the SWAT van with them?

Answer: They use it to fog up the truck's windows and conceal the team inside. One of the agents even pours water on it during the ride and we see the fog coming off it.

Question: What's the exact content (kind of food) of Hannibal's "lunch box" he carries on the plane?

Answer: According to the book (where this scene happens much earlier, by the way) it is an aromatic pâté de fois gras (goose liver pâté) with truffles, figs from Anatolia and a half bottle of St. Estephe cognac. There is also the mention of "fine bread", but no further details are given. Everything was delivered by the Parisian catering firm Fauchon.

Question: How was the "brain-scene" filmed?

Answer: It was filmed using a animatronic robot in some places, then using CGI on the top of Ray Liotta's head (some behind the scenes footage shows him with a green skull cap), so he could be shown moving and talking.

Question: What exactly is the deal with the handcuff/hand cutting scene at the end? Even though we see Clarice wince in pain, we see her with both her hands later. Are we to assume that Hannibal cut off his own hand and that's why he was wearing the arm sling on the plane?

Answer: That does appear to be the most likely interpretation of events, yes. The only other possibility, which seems considerably less probable, is that Lecter does know some way of disabling handcuffs with a hard strike - one that still caused significant damage to his wrist, resulting in the need to wear the sling.

Question: Why did Jodie Foster decide not to be in Hannibal ?

Answer: She was just unhappy with the screenplay and the development of the characters. In fact the screenplay was altered 15 times on her requests and those of Jonathan Demme (director of Silence of the Lambs) and eventually neither of them had anything to do with the film.