Bryan Fuller is one of the most distinctive artists working in television today. Write all the lab reports you want about the hyper scientific approach displayed by Vince Gilligan. Wear out your magnifying glass examining the limitless detail in each and every frame of Matthew Weiner’s work. All of the observational techniques in the book will fail to capture what makes Fuller great. It’s magic. The man has a stunning ability to compose a scene that fits in his universe, but would be a little out of place in ours. The Hannibal teaser poster for the second season (starring Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen) advertises the cockeyed wizardry that Fuller summons up for every episode in his –macabre yet whimsical – filmography.
For an artist so infatuated with death, (beyond Hannibal his credits include Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me) Fuller leans toward the fantastic in his imagery. Unlike most dark (whatever that means) productions on television, Fuller’s work has always been far from realistic. He willingly trades the real for the expressive. The choice never takes away from the effectiveness of his stories. In this new Hannibal teaser image, we see Hannibal displayed as a very cool version of the devil. “After a horrifying descent into madness in season 1, this image ironically represents the perspective of a scrappier, clearer-minded Will Graham in season 2. The scales have fallen from his eyes, and he finally sees Hannibal Lecter for the monster he is.”
The Hannibal teaser poster certainly makes Mikkelsen look monstrous, and I for one am stoked to see how Fuller plays a season that promises to at least begin a long lasting and dangerous game of cat and mouse. Do you love Bryan Fuller? What would TV look like with more stuff like his? Could you imagine if he’d done the visuals on Breaking Bad? Bare your teeth in the comments.
