Hugh Dancy - I'm playing Will Graham in Hannibal right now, ready to take your questions.

Will sweats a lot. Is there just a giant barrel of glycerin marked "Will Sweat" in makeup?

It's worse than that. There's so many different types. But that's nothing compared to the blood. There's clothes blood, hair blood, eye blood, mouth blood, prosthetics dept blood and on and on. For some reason it's never quite the right consistency or colour so we end up creating a cocktail with everyone chipping in their opinions - bit darker, no no that's too arterial. And then they cover me in it.

Do you ever compare acting notes with your wife about playing a mentally unstable law enforcement officer on a television series?

Yes, mainly because ofg the danger of terrible overacting. We're on a tight schedule, so there's not much time to offer up different takes or levels of crazy. so you go home at the end of the day hoping you didn't just do the worst acting of your life. And then she talked me down.

What does Mads Mikkelsen smell like?

With his nose like everyone else

Hey Hugh! You are incredible as Will Graham! So stoked for the new season! When did you find out what Will's fate was going to be at the end of the first season? How did that conversation go? Did Bryan Fuller just approach you and was like "So yeah, I know you're kind of the main character on this show but you're going to get royally fucked over and spend the entire next season in a cell"?

First time I met Bryan he pitched about 4 season's worth of TV. Including cell time. But the thing that got me was that I'd vomit up someone's ear (the ear-candidate actually changed). When I got tired during the 1st season I'd cling onto that dream.

How do you get your hair to look so perfectly tousled?

I have a professional tousler who travels with me at all times.

Hi, Hugh! My whole house (dogs included) love you on Hannibal. Will be seeing any screen time from Winston and the gang this season?

Thanks!

Alana's looking after the dogs. They'll be back.

Which was your favorite dream-scape or hallucination to inhabit? Which was more scary? Mads seems like a nice guy, does he stay in character or are you both tempted to laugh sometimes?

I liked when Will started sleepwalking except that it required me to walk around the country roads outside Toronto in sub-zero temperatures in my underwear. But that was when I got a sense of what road we were going to take him down, with a new sympton hitting him every week. Lots of fun. Like, 'this week you get to have aural hallucinations'. Great!

Noone stays in character except perhaps Scott Thompson.

Hi Hugh! Thanks for getting so involved with the fannibals - you, Mads, and Bryan make it such an awesome community. Going into the second season, how aware were you of things like the fans' constant cry of "someone please help Will Graham"?

This leads to my next question: will someone ever help Will Graham?

Will Graham has to help himself.

1. What's it like working with Mads?

2. I want to have a nice dinner tonight. Any suggestions?

I worked with Mads first about 10 years ago in King Arthur, which was a very different kettle of fish, mostly spent ojn horses killing people painted blue. We were in Dublin for 6 months and my memory ios patchy, but the one thingv I definitely took away was that I'd want to work with him again with fewer horses aqnd more acting. Followed his carrer since and for me he's one of the best screen actors working anywhere. So the chance to sit opposite him and knock Bryan's dialogue back and forth was incredible. He came onto the show after me and I was basically checking email every 5 mins hoping it would work out and I think it has. Good guy also.

I would try something vegetarian for dinner. Or just watch hannibal we'll eat for you.

Hi Hugh! Yesterday on Twitter during the #GoneMads extravaganza, Mads said one of the funniest moments on set for him was when “Someone kept snoring when filming the body mural in S2 and because so many bodies were there we didn't know who.” So, my question to you leads on from that – what’s been YOUR funniest moment on set?

Another question I’ve been instructed to ask is how hard is it to keep an American accent up during filming?

(Also, sidenote; my housemates and I watched Adam the other day and everyone has fallen in love with it, so good job. Lots of praise coming from rainy England.)

Hello England! Mads was diplomatic - it wasn't just snoring. I had to join those good people on the floor (as you'll see) and I can tell you all bodily noises were being emitted.

Do you think Hannibal would survive a zombie apocalypse?

He would be their God. But I think he'd find it a little trying, I've never heard of a zombie with a passion for cooking their food

When you are on set does your accent slip out while you are filming?

Not so far, at least I don't think so. They can do amazing things in post though so its possible they put me through some kind of American filter.

So many comments already, I'm sure mine will get drowned out but anyways here goes! This show is the first series I've been able to actually watch in a while due to a mild mental disorder, TV series do not usually work well for me. Every week I force myself to sit down and enjoy your show, it is so beautifully crafted and amazingly acted that I find no trouble being immersed. So yeah just wanted to say thank you for being a major player in something so incredible!!

Thanks

You (and Will) seem to spend a lot of time in season 2 in your little cage talking to people, you even get a straightjacket and a muzzle - Do you find that limiting as an actor to be restricted like that or do you take it as a challenge to focus on Will himself and his relationship with other characters?

Yes there's some limits no doubt. Technical mainly - there's only so many things you can do in a cell, and once you've sat on your bunk, paced, stared menacingly and approached the bars you've pretty much run the full gamut. Also you spend most of the time trying not to let a bar get between you and the camera and if it does you see the camera crew swearing and/or gesturing you to move over, so it's kind of hard to lose yourself in the moment. But that said it felt kind of iconic, mask in particular

Do you really think we wouldn't be able to recognize human meat if we ate some?

Absolutely. There's no way you can recognize something you haven't already encountered. Unless there's something you're trying to tell me..?

Hi, Hugh. It's 3AM where I am, and I've stayed awake for this. Super keen for season 2!

Couple of questions-

1. Where would you like to see Will/the show go? Obviously you've got the limits of the book series, but is there a direction you'd like to take?

2. What is a role you'd love to play some day!

Thanks so much for this! Hope to see your answers ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

Okm well I'd better answer before you nod off. 1. I'd like to see Will get a bit more agency, obviously he was in some ways quite passive in 1, in fact didn't even know what was happening to him. So I want to see him take action. That said our version of action is always going to involve a certain amount of talking. I wouldn't say we're limited by the books exactly - we have to judge right how far we can travel within the parameters of the universe. I think the further we get the more we can play. So that when we get to red Dragon etc you're not suddenly going to know EXACTLY what will happen.

Off the top of my head I wouldn't mind a Western

What's your favorite episode of Hannibal?

Good question - I think the finale of season 1. David Slade who shot the 1st ep came back and tied everything up; I thought it hit a really good emotional pitch, and all the throwbacks and parallels to ep 1 in GJH's kitchen were so well done by Bryan. Plus that vomiting thing.

Hi, I'm a big fan. Eagerly awaiting the premier tonight. Could you tell me more about the airport carpet thing?

go to www.carpetsforairports.com - a friend set it up, and I've merely assisted by spreading the word and photographing a few carpets. Our work is never done.

What were your (and the cast/writers) thoughts on Utah/SLC Valley cable station KSL's refusal to air Hannibal due to "excessive graphic violence"?

Link to story.

I love Bryan Fuller's work so of course I watched the show and it's quite interesting.

You know it's a free world. And in some ways it's like a badge of honour. I actually think that the one thing we don't do is desensitize violence. And actually another thing - we don't casually or predominantly inflict violence, in particular sexual violence, on women. Our show is equal opportunity. So, sure, don't watch. But for me there are other culprits more worthy of censure.

have you ever had any nightmares after seeing some of the death tableaus? did any of them scare you/disgust you more than others?

No. The only one that freaked me out a little was my neurologist, Dr Suttcliffe, the reason being the prtosthetic was so graphic and I walked on set after they'd prepped it (ie dressed with blood etc) when I wasn't expecting it. But really it was because the Dr was played by a friend, John Benjamin Hickey (we'd worked together on The Big C) and seeing him with his head chopped in half like a pez dispenser was a bit troubling.

Did Mads really bite you during the TCA's? If he did, did it hurt? Did he tell you he was going to do it, or was it completely by surprise?

I think I asked him to. Anything for NBC

How hard was it to follow Will down his descent into madness and self-doubt? Did you ever begin to question your own sanity?

Not exactly but it was hard to keep track. So I kind of questioned if other people would question my sanity.

Hey Hugh! Thank you for doing this. Did you ever consider playing Will Graham with a southern accent?

No I think that would have tied him down too much. He has had a very itinerant childhood, which I think makes sense that mentally he's quite itinerant, so something more generic, to reflect that, was better. I'd love to do a Southern accent but let's face it there's a long history of Brits doing horrible Southern accents so I need to excercise caution. Words that will probably come back to haunt me.

Hi Hugh!

I have three questions:

1. What was it like working on Venus in Fur? It is one of my favourite plays and you were amazing in that production.

2. Are you okay with the idea of a Hannibal/Pushing Daisies crossover?

3. What's Scott Thompson like off camera?

1. Great. 1hr 40 mins on stage nonstop with a great actress, Miss Nina Arianda. So much fun. A serious workout, mentally and physically. I think I read that it's the most produced play across America this year which is probably in part because they only have to pay 2 actors, but also because there's so much in it.
2. Yes though I have no idea what it would look like. Bryan seems to reemploy everyone he's ever worked with so I guess it'll happen by default.
3. He's a very serious, sober, introverted individual who comes alive when you touch on the love of his life which is of course modern dance.

In taking on the character of Will Graham, did you (or Bryan) come up with a more fully developed background of Will's life before the FBI? Will we be getting any snippets if this is the case or can you share a bit of that backstory?

Yes there's a fair bit in Red Dragon, in terms of his background, that we touch on in season 1 - traveling around with his Dad, having been a homicide detective, worked in forensics etc. The conversation was not so much adding biographical detail but exploring what we knew - eg what would he have been like as a homicide detective and the answer was he probably wouldn't have lasted long. Which he didn't.

When you were filming Hysteria was it difficult to keep a straight face when you were pretending to pleasure women?

I'd like to say that there's nothing in the least bit amusing about pleasuring women. But it turns out that's not true.

Does Mads Mikkelsen's breath smell like flowers?

Not any I've encountered.

Hugh- so grateful that you are taking the time. How did you prepare for the role of Will and did you look back to Manhunter or Red Dragon (the film) for any inspiration? If all things go your way, do you hope to be involved with the show beyond the events of Red Dragon?

I read the books, Red Dragon for season 1 and then the others moving forward, because as I'm in jail/asylum it seemed the descriptions of Hannibal in Silence etc might be of value, and they were. Moving forward who knows? But yes I hope to be involved

Hello Hugh! I love your work and was curious what you said and how you talked Bryan Fuller into casting Mads as Hannibal. Was there a particular interaction you and Mads had on the set of King Arthur that made you think he had the chops to pull off Hannibal? Thank you for suggesting it; it makes for an amazing show.

There was no need to talk him into it. Just timing.

Not Hannibal related, but do you miss Staffordshire?

Yes!

Any favourite "Fannibal" stories? Also, do you have a favourite line you delivered in Season 1?

Nothing but good stories, and encounters, with Fannibals. Comiccon was amazing. Favourite lines were probably the speech in GJH's kitchen in the season finale as it dawns on me what he has done. and also from ep 1 "I like the smell of urinal cake.'

Can we get Nina Arianda into Hannibal? Maybe as a potential love interest for Will, or maybe as Clarice Starling. You guys were amazing in Venus in Fur.

P.S. You (and the Hannibal team) are doing amazing work. I can't praise the show enough. I only have awards I want to throw at it.

Thanks. Which awards to you have, to be exact?

I think the conversation about Nina did actually come up - I'd love it, but she wasn't available.

Dear Hugh, what is your favorite book?

Sabbaths theater by Philip Roth, Women in Love by DH Lawrence