The right woman for Lecter

When Jodie Foster declined to reprise her role as FBI agent Clarice Starling in Hannibal, apparently because she considered the part too violent and lurid, the Hollywood producers were left with a problem. Who could fill Foster's shoes?

Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Gillian Anderson were among the names floated for the part. For British director Ridley Scott, however, there was only ever one contender: Julianne Moore.

"I believe casting is everything and I thought, 'It has to be Julianne and that's it,'" he tells next month's issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

For Moore, 40, who played Ralph Fiennes's lover in The End of the Affair and the desperate porn star Amber Waves in Boogie Nights, the part of Clarice Starling could prove to be the one that seals her reputation as an international star, even though she received just $2 million for the part whereas Foster was reportedly offered 10 times that amount.

Hannibal is based on the controversial book of the same name by Thomas Harris which reunites Lecter and Starling 10 years after the human flesh-loving doctor escaped prison - but more as allies than enemies. In the film version, however, there have been some alterations at the behest of director Scott who felt the ending, especially, did not quite fit.

But the film is still described as "psychologically horrifying" by Moore in Vanity Fair, and she reveals that the experience affected her so deeply that "I actually talked to my shrink about it".

Moore has a three-year-old son, Caleb, with her boyfriend, the director Bart Freundlich. He was allowed to visit the set, although his mother was careful that he did not witness any distressing scenes.

Julianne modestly puts her success down to good fortune. "I'm the luckiest girl in the world," she says.