FAQ for
Red Dragon (2002) More at IMDbPro »

Yes. The events in this film take place an unknown amount of time before The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. For those unfamiliar with the series, Red Dragon is the title of Thomas Harris' original novel. It was previously made as Manhunter (1986), in which CSI's William Petersen originated the role of Will Graham, Tom Noonan played Frances Dollarhyde and Brian Cox played the very first Hannibal Lecter. It was directed by Michael Mann (Miami Vice- TV series).

Red Dragon opens in 1980 (the symphony orchestra scene) and picks up some years later, after Will and Hannibal have recovered from their wounds. An FBI report that Will studies in the movie has a date stamp with presumably the year 1984 on it (it is hard to make out as it is moving and slightly out of focus). Silence of the Lambs is situated in 1989 (as indicated by a picture of one of Buffalo Bill's victims in the beginning of the film). The best guess would therefore be that the main events in Red Dragon happen about five years before Silence of the Lambs.

NOTE: Some people have argued that at the very end of the film, where Chilton is talking to Lecter and tells him there is a "female FBI agent wanting to talk to you", and then Lecter asks "What is her name?", then the credits come on and film ends, this female FBI agent would be Clarice Starling. Therefore, it is possible that the events in Red Dragon take place just before Silence Of The Lambs, this could be as less as a few weeks or a few months.

However, this seems unlikely. Just as the movie flash-forwards several years after the prologue, this could have happened at the end to. Remember that Will Graham was shot quite badly during the climax. In the next scene, where he reads Hannibal's letter on his boat, he seems fully recovered. This suggests that a considerable amount of time has past between those scenes, more than a few months at least. So the following epilogue with Hannibal and Chilton has to be on a later time than the body of the movie as well; it is also possible that even more time has elapsed between the boat scene and the epilogue (the epilogue plays during the events of Silence of the Lambs, that much can be assumed).

Scott Glenn has refused to take part in any of the Hannibal Lecter movies following "Silence of the Lambs", owing to the disturbing nature of his research, including listening to real audiotapes of serial killer victims.

Brett Ratner, for his part, has said that he met with FBI agents as part of his research before directing the film, and found the FBI agents to be quite different from Glenn's portrayal.

In Silence, Hannibal instinctively felt that Clarice was an unexperienced student, who could be easily intimidated and manipulated. So he used a deep and pronounced intonation to make her uneasy.

However, Will Graham is a seasoned veteran who has experience with serial killers and their atrocities, and both men have known each other for some time, so Hannibal knows there is little use in trying to intimidate Graham through a chilling performance. Instead, he uses every opportunity to mock Graham (the remark about the after shave, the fake American accent, trying to 'comfort' him on the death of Freddy Lounds).