KEY POINTS:
You seem to be flavour of the month at the moment, don't you?
Yes, I have two very big films at the moment that might change things in my daily life and in my professional life, which is exciting. But this is one of those jobs where you never know what's going to happen tomorrow, so I'm just focusing on what's happening today and we'll see.
Had you read any of the Thomas Harris books before accepting the part?
No, not the books but I had seen Silence of the Lambs, Manhunter and bits of Hannibal and I had really strong memories of Silence of the Lambs. I was still young when I saw that film and it really frightened me because this character was very strong. I have very precise memories of Anthony Hopkins. When I decided to work on this project I read the three novels and I watched all the films.
Can you even begin to understand how someone can do such horrific things as serial murder or cannibalism?
Yeah, yeah, of course. Well, I tried to crack this when I worked on this character. I tried to understand how and why you can become like this and I read all these books on serial killers and they were just explaining how they grew up and what affected them and how it started. It was very useful, for me, to read those books. While you can't really understand or justify those people, you can have a glimpse of why they're doing all those murders. With Hannibal Lecter, he is described by Thomas Harris as a sociopath, so this means he doesn't differentiate between good and bad things, it means you can then easily kill someone because it's not a bad thing for you. So, for me, it was quite logical for this character to eat and kill people.
Did you meet Anthony Hopkins?
No. I was supposed to meet him during the preparation for the film but it didn't happen because he was elsewhere.
Were you relieved that you didn't get to meet him?
No, I would love to meet him because I'm a big fan of his acting, but I don't know if it would have been useful for the work on the character because I think he has his own way of acting and working on a character and he maybe doesn't want to tell this to another actor.
Producer Dino de Laurentis said you were born to play Hannibal Lecter, and director Peter Webber said you have this darkness about you that makes you perfect for the part. Is that disturbing?
Yes, it is. I think everybody has a dark side but I don't feel it's very strong in me. But maybe they see different things that I can't see.
Did you really prepare for the role by examining human bodies?
Yes. When we started shooting, in Prague, Peter Webber - the director - sent me to medical school one day to assist an autopsy class. So, I went there and I was in the room with maybe 20 bodies that were completely destroyed and opened. It was a very intense experience and I was very scared when I entered the room. The first two minutes were a bit hard and the smell was very strong - it's a mixture of formaldehyde and rotting meat, so that was hard. But then after a few minutes you just forget all about this and you become very fascinated because you can touch every single part of the human body and even inside the body. I could take out the organs and I had a close look at the lungs and the intestines. It was fascinating. I only came in during the last three days of the lesson so the bodies were completely destroyed and in a way they didn't look real. I couldn't imagine that those were real bodies - they looked like fake bodies because they were all destroyed, and I think when you are in the first lesson, on the first day and you see the fresh bodies coming in and you start opening them, this might be more frightening. So that's why I asked to go again, on the first day, but I didn't in the end because the schedule didn't work.
What about the sword-fighting in the movie?
It was a lot of fun. I really like aikido and kendo. For the swordfight scene I prepared the whole week with a kendo teacher and it was nice to learn how to use the sword and the shinai [practice sword]. It's always nice on films when you have physical preparation. On another film I learned to ride a horse and how to fight with a stick, which was fun.
How did you find out you'd got the role of Hannibal Lecter?
I was at dinner in Paris and I met the French producer Tarak Ben Ammar - he came to me and talked about this project so I was very surprised and excited at the same time. Then I received the script a few days later.
Do you think this film could be risky for your career?
Of course. When you go on big projects like this it's always very risky, especially when it's a big franchise with a very popular character. You have a lot of expectations coming from the critics and the audiences. I actually refused it, at first, because I was really frightened and I just thought it was very risky, for me, to go on this project.
Do you share Hannibal's taste for flesh?
Yes, I love meat, especially red meat. Steak tartare is my favourite dish. Well, that's nearly true. It's one of my favourite dishes.
What's the most evil thing you've ever done?
I don't know - killed a fly, maybe. I do have one memory, like this - that comes from school. I had a drawing-pin that I put on the chair of my neighbour, who was a girl, while she was doing something at the blackboard. When she came back, instead of sitting normally she sat on her knees and the pin went straight into her knee. She was screaming and bleeding. It was quite exciting - it was fun - but I was just a silly little boy then.
What's up next for you?
I'm in a New Zealand film which is called The Vintner's Luck. The director is Niki Caro, who did Whale Rider and North Country, with Charlize Theron. It's adapted from a novel and is a period film. It's a simple story about a vintner - a winemaker - who's going to meet his guardian angel. It's filmed half in New Zealand and half in France in Bourgogne. The actress, Vera Farmiga, who is in the last Scorsese movie, The Departed, is in it too. We're starting shooting in March.
Do you have any expectations of filming in New Zealand?
No, but I really want to go because I've heard it's beautiful.
Will you do any extreme sports, like bungy jumping, while you're there?
Not for the film, no, but maybe for me, sure - why not? I'm not so sure about doing bungy jumping or zorbing - that sounds horrible - but I'd like to try whitewater rafting when I'm there. That seems like a lot of fun.
Lowdown
Who: Gaspard Ulliel, the new younger Hannibal Lecter
Past roles: Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) A Very Long Engagement (2004),
What: Prequel Hannibal Rising
When: Opens at cinemas February 22
Also: Appearing in the film adaptation of The Vintner's Luck which begins filming next month
