In a new interview tied to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim which ends usually about following (perhaps not surprisingly), Brian Cox tells what the man who played Hannibal Lecter looked like on screen first… a few years before Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning performance in The Silence of the Lambs making everyone think that he created the paper.

The veteran actor, who since 1986 carved his own share of legendary performances, made peace with an epic spy fight. "Well, it's a different attitude," he said the Hollywood Reporter. "I mean, it's like playing Hamlet. Everyone has their own Hamlet. I chose to play it the way director Michael Mann and I decided to play it. Tony played it well. I mean, I had to go to Paris to see it because I couldn't bring myself to see it in London.

Asked for clarification on the last part of his answer, Cox explained, “Because people know I'm the other Hannibal, and I'm worried they're going to say, 'You're comparing Hannibal Lecters' and all that. But we played it the way we played. Tony decided to switch it to another route. And of course, Tony's was a huge success, and he got the Oscar and he made a lot of money from it. I made like 10 grand.”

But the one rule that sticks to both, apparently, is Cox and Hopkins don't talk about Hannibal Lecter. "I did an interview in a newspaper, and the headline in the newspaper was that I was the first Hannibal Lecter. Well, that's true, but it sounds like I'm bragging about it and I'm not. And then I woke up one afternoon and the phone started to rang and all hell broke loose… Tony's ex-missus called my agent and said, 'Tony's a bit upset about that.' So I called my agent and I said, 'Look, I apologize.' Tony and I have worked together a few times since. We never talk about it. And that's a rule we never do."

For those wondering, THR did not announce Mads Mikkelsen's take on the character in the TV series Hannibal—so we're still wondering what Cox was thinking that version of the sophisticated serial killer. With that in mind, here you go THR to read the full interview.

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