10 Best Acting Performances In The Hannibal Lecter Trilogy

Edward Norton appears in 2002’s Red Dragon as former FBI profiler Will Graham. It was Graham who initially caught Lecter back in 1980, an event which caused him to retire from the FBI. During the events of the film, Harvey Keitel’s Jack Crawford convinces him to help the FBI on the Tooth Fairy case, and Graham often elicits the help of an incarcerated Lecter to assist.

Once you are able to move past the weird decision to bleach Norton’s hair blonde, it is clear that the actor marvellously carries the majority of scenes in which he appears. Norton is able to stand out in scenes with both Harvey Keitel’s Crawford and Anthony Hopkins’ Lecter, playing well off the strengths of these veteran actors.

Norton’s best scenes are when he is the only character, such as when Graham visits the crime scene at the Leeds family home. In this scene, Graham is mostly silent, experiencing the crime scene along with the audience, before monologuing to his recorder about the events. It's very tense with disturbing visuals and alarming audible cues.

You can see the emotion in Graham through Norton’s performance, conflicted by the need to do his job and stop the murders but also uncomfortable in the way he connects with killers like Lecter and Dolarhyde.