Hannibal Drove Me to Therapy, Says Moore

February 6, 2001 -- Making the grisly Hannibal was traumatic enough that star Julianne Moore found herself consulting her shrink about the aftereffects, the actress tells Vanity Fair.

In the March issue of the glossy mag, which hits newsstands nationally Feb. 13, Moore is quoted as saying, "Hannibal is the dark side that is part of everyone, the id that you let go. He's evil unchanneled … in our fantasy lives we explore those themes. That's OK, but it's a fine line I feel uncomfortable with. … I actually talked to my shrink about it."

Moore took over the role of Clarice Starling from Jodie Foster, who had passed on the sequel to Silence of the Lambs, despite being offered $20 million for the part. (Moore was paid $2 million for the role.)

"I read [the script] and thought, 'This is really dark,'" says Moore, who just turned 40. "My apprehensions had to do with the nature of the violence. I am pretty careful about violence, but eventually I came to feel that this story was fable-like. This is a film about good and evil coming up against each other. It's iconic and almost mythologized. But it is psychologically horrifying."

Moore, best known for her Oscar-nominated turns in Boogie Nights and The End of the Affair, tells Vanity Fair that she wanted to take a break after making Hannibal but, because "of this stupid strike, what I'm doing between now and June is absolutely insane."

Having just finished World Traveler for director Bart Freundlich, her off-screen companion, she's squeezing in the sci-fi comedy Evolution, The Hours, and The Shipping News.