LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Edward Norton and Emily Watson are in negotiations to topline Universal Pictures' Red Dragon for director Brett Ratner and producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis. The project is scheduled to go into production in the fall.

Anthony Hopkins is reprising his role as the psychiatrist-turned-cannibal Hannibal Lecter for the film, which is based on Thomas Harris' 1981 best-selling crime-thriller novel of the same name.

Ted Tally adapted the screenplay, which centers on a serial killer called Red Dragon who is on the loose, bringing FBI (news - web sites) agent Will Graham (Norton) out of retirement because he has a special talent for catching such killers. Graham was almost the victim of Lecter, now jailed and to whom Graham appeals for help. Watson will play Reba, a blind woman with whom the vicious Red Dragon works.

Dragon was the first of Harris' books to introduce the Lecter character, which Hopkins brought to life in his Oscar-winning turn in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs and this year's Universal Pictures/MGM co-production Hannibal. In 1986, Michael Mann directed from his own adaptation a feature version of Red Dragon, titled Manhunter, which stars William L. Petersen as Graham, Joan Allen as Reba and Brian Cox as Lecter.

Norton, repped by Endeavor, stars onscreen in Paramount Pictures' The Score. He next stars in Warner Bros.' Death to Smoochy. Also a two-time Oscar nominee, Norton was nominated as actor for his role in American History X and as supporting actor for his role in Primal Fear.

Watson, repped by WMA, was nominated for best actress Oscars (news - web sites) for her roles in Hilary and Jackie and Breaking the Waves. Her upcoming projects include Dimension Films' Equilibrium and New Line Cinema/Revolution Studios' untitled Paul Thomas Anderson project.

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