When Jodie Foster declined to reprise the role of Clarice Starling, 'Julianne Moore' beat Gillian Anderson, Cate Blanchett and Helen Hunt for the role.
After Thomas Harris finished writing the novel, he sent copies to The Silence of the Lambs (1991) principals Jonathan Demme, Jodie Foster, Ted Tally, and Anthony Hopkins for approval. The screenplay was rewritten no less than 15 times because of dissatisfaction by Demme and Foster over new character elements. In the end, neither Demme nor Foster remained with the production.
Mason's mansion is actually the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.
Several of the extras in the movie and some minor roles in the Florence scenes were recruited by Anthony Hopkins. He also helped to secure some locales for shooting.
Krendler's lake house with the boat dock is the same house used in the What About Bob? (1991)
Ray Liotta actually ate dark chicken meat during the "brain scene".
During the brain-eating sequence there is a small boar's-head trophy mounted on the wall just above and behind Ray Liota; another reference to the pig massacre scene.
The outdoor opera, Dante's La vita nuova, which Dr. Lecter and Mr. Pazzi see in Florence, was especially composed for the movie. The composer Patrick Cassidy did not stop at the three minute part which as performed in the movie, but composed a whole opera.
Some of the places where the move was filmed include places where filming hardly ever is allowed. Author Thomas Harris, while doing research for his book, got in contact with the heir of the Palazzo Capponi and for the movie this same heir allowed Ridley Scott to film the Caponni Library.
One character eats an orange just before going to confront Hannibal. This could be a tribute to The Godfather (1972) where everyone who dies is accompanied by an orange in the scene.
The first shot of Florence after the movie starts is the same scene as depicted in the drawing on Hannibal's cell wall Hannibal describes to Clarice in Silence of the Lambs - the Duomo, as seen from the Belvedere, in Florence, Italy.
Dr. Lecter's Florentine alias, Dr. Fell, is taken from a rhyming epigram by 17th century English satirist Thomas Brown: "I do not love thee, Dr. Fell; The reason why I cannot tell. But this alone I know full well: I do not love thee, Dr. Fell."
The music during the opening credits is "Aria da Capo" from Bach's Goldberg Variations., a tape of which was playing while Lecter killed the two guards in Tennessee in "Silence of the Lambs".
Veteran character actor Frankie Faison has appeared in all four of the "Hannibal" movies. He had a small role in Manhunter (1986) and played Barney the asylum orderly in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002).
Giancarlo Giannini (Inspector Pazzi) was in the film Cervellini fritti impanati (1996), which translates as "Fried Crumbed Brains".
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