For a fleeting (but entirely too long) moment, NBC seriously/ridiculously considered John Cusack and Hugh Grant for the role of Hannibal Lecter.
Hannibal wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t for for the guy who plays the frightening cannibal himself, Mads Mikkelsen. In some ways, I’ve come to more closely associate Mikkelsen with the character than even Anthony Hopkins, who famously played him on the big screen in movies like The Silence of the Lambs.
But I want you to imagine for a moment if it wasn’t Mikkelsen who portrayed the character on TV. What if it was…John Cusack? Or even better, Hugh Grant?
Because apparently they were considered. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Cusack and Grant…in movies like Serendipity and Love Actually, not as Hannibal freaking Lecter.
If you’ve stopped laughing yourself to tears, then let me tell you the backstory. Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller unveiled these unlikely behind-the-scenes shenanigans to Collider:
"There was a casting kerfuffle on who to cast for Hannibal Lecter, and there was a difference of opinion on what a traditional television network would want as a leading man and what we would want as an actor playing Hannibal Lecter to personify playing that character. I think the network wanted somebody that was much more poppy, much more mainstream, much more American I think in some ways. That was just them thinking about, ‘Okay how do we get the biggest audience for our television show? We have to cast John Cusack as Hannibal Lecter and everybody will tune in because won’t that be surprising?’ I was like, ‘Well go ahead, make an offer.’"
Goodness, I can’t for the life of me imagine Cusack in this series. How would he kill his victims? By holding up a boombox over their heads and serenading them to death?
Luckily, Fuller was Team Mikkelsen from the get-go, and alls well that ends well because Mikkelsen not only snagged the role, but literally killed it:
"There was some resistance to Mads Mikkelsen because he was European, because he was somebody who you could look at and go, ‘Yeah I buy that he eats people’. We were dealing with a very American network that wanted a very American actor to sell to American audiences, and all the creatives on the show wanted somebody who was the best person for the role."
And they thought John Cusack and Hugh Grant were the better options? Also, Hugh Grant is English, so if NBC thought of him as “a very American actor,” they might need to brush up on their geography, just saying.
Sorry, John Cusack and Hugh Grant, I love you both tremendously, but I am beyond relieved that we didn’t see either of you as Hannibal. Because no, just no.
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h/t AV Club