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Hugh Dancy: Returning to Hannibal

(Courtesy of AXN)Despite constantly being pushed closer to, and pretty much over the edge of, madness, Dancy says his role will undergo a massive shift where he will be much more in control of his own destiny while constantly trying to hang onto his humanity

Novia D. Rulistia (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, April 13, 2014

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Hugh Dancy: Returning to Hannibal (Courtesy of AXN) (Courtesy of AXN)

(Courtesy of AXN)

Despite constantly being pushed closer to, and pretty much over the edge of, madness, Dancy says his role will undergo a massive shift where he will be much more in control of his own destiny while constantly trying to hang onto his humanity.

Hannibal, which airs every Tuesday at 9 p.m. on AXN, was developed by Bryan Fuller based on Thomas Harris'€™ novel Red Dragon for NBC and focuses on the dynamic relationship between Will as an FBI criminal profiler and his brilliant forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen).

The first season ended with an unexpected twist when Will was framed by Hannibal, which led to Will being locked up behind bars.

The second season starts with Will trying to convince everyone around him that he is not guilty; that it was all Hannibal'€™s doing. As it moves forward, he realizes that no one is listening to his cries of innocence so he starts to take action from prison.

'€œWill has realized who Hannibal is so he'€™s no longer deceived. He begins to realize that he has a new kind of determination '€” maybe a new ruthlessness '€” that he didn'€™t have in the first season where he was much more passive,'€ said the 38-year-old.

'€œI don'€™t think they have a normal, healthy relationship. But I think that they have a very deep connection with each other. In the second season, Will reveals a lot more, he'€™s been much more honest to Hannibal but in some way, he is also concealing a part of himself.'€

Dancy said the darker plot and Will'€™s new character had presented him with bigger acting challenges.

'€œAll my acting is behind bars and all my acting is in a small room, so very quickly you run out of things to do: you go back and forth, you sit down, stand up, you come up and that'€™s it, nothing else to do,'€ he says.

'€œBut it'€™s almost like an exercise, trying to find a way to communicate differently, and I enjoy that up to a point, but I also miss Will [being] out in the world.'€

Just like in its previous season, Hannibal will still feature gory, and sometimes disturbing, death tableaux.

In the second season, Dancy says there are more of the tableaux than in the previous season, all specific and spectacular, as Fuller and his writing team continue to produce absolutely sickening and fascinating ideas for new ways to kill people and present them.

'€œAs an actor, I have no problem with it as I enjoy the horror element of it '€” the more disgusting it gets, the happier I am. It'€™s also like being a child playing around in fake blood, and fake body, but you have much better toys,'€ he says.

In the series, as a gifted criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, Will has the ability to empathize with psychopaths and is able to see crime scenes and plays them out vividly in his mind. When he closes his eyes, he gets into the killer'€™s mind '€” visualizing himself committing the murder he investigates to understand the killers'€™ behavior, and as he opens his eyes, he is alone at the crime scene.

Thanks to Dancy'€™s brilliant acting, it is as if he takes viewers with Will to the crime scene, inviting them to feel all the tensions directly within him.

To help Dancy understand Will and to get insight on his ability, he read Red Dragon and several other books written by people who do what Will does '€” people that Harris spoke to when he was creating the book'€™s character.

'€œIt takes place in the world, but a lot of it takes place inside Will'€™s head '€” such a clear and rich description of the particular psychology,'€ he said. '€œSo that was helpful at the beginning and then I just went with Bryan'€™s [Fuller] imagination and my own.'€

But no matter how involved Dancy is in his character, the gruesome scenes never affect him personally.

'€œBy the end of the day, I don'€™t go home carrying all the burdens that Will has to carry because I leave it all at work,'€ the husband of actress Claire Danes said over a phone from Toronto, Canada, when filming the series'€™ latest episode.

'€œI go home usually happy that I'€™ve got to work with these great actors and with fantastic scripts.'€

Dancy started his acting career in 1995 when he landed a role in Dangerfield, Kavanagh QC and Granada'€™s popular series Cold Feet, while other performances included Sam Mendes'€™ David Copperfield and BBC'€™s Madame Bovary television films in 2000.

His first appearance on the big screen was in 2001, in Ridley Scott'€™s Black Hawk Down, followed by, among others, Tempo, King Arthur, Confessions of a Shopaholic and Hysteria.

Having been in show business for almost 20 years, Dancy says he is now at the stage where he tries to enjoy what he has achieved so far in his life and career.

'€œThe truth is, I never really look too far ahead. It'€™s a very unpredictable business, but Hannibal could still be going in five years or could end,'€ he says.

'€œAs long as I stay engaged, challenged, working with good people, then I'€™ll be very happy.'€

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