The lambs are no longer screaming, and Clarice Starling is back in business. In this exclusive diary from the set of 'Hannibal', Julianne Moore writes about stepping into the long-awaited sequel, becoming a sharpshooter, meeting President Clinton, and explaining fake blood to her three-year old son.

FEBRUARY 2000
Great Scott!
It’s inevitable—you’re on some arduous press trip, and you get a call saying you have to fly somewhere else. While I was in London, doing interviews for The End of the Affair, I heard that [director] Ridley Scott wanted to see me in L.A. about Hannibal. They suggested I fly from London, but I had been away from Cal [Moore’s three-year-old son, with director Bart Freund lich] for four days and didn’t want to be separated any longer. So I flew home to New York first, then to L.A. There I went straight to a hotel room, changed my shirt, and put on some makeup. Ridley came over half an hour later; we met for about an hour; I flew back to New York. The following day I got the offer—it was that fast.

I thought it was a great script. And Ridley really surprised me. I had expected someone much gruffer. But he was so relaxed and personable, I knew I’d enjoy working with him. And it’s very exciting to be doing another film with Tony [Hopkins]; we were in Surviving Picasso together.

MARCH 28
Got up for Cal in the middle of the night and broke my toe on a chair. Have to sit down for two solid weeks and then walk around with a special shoe; no exercising. Puts a bit of a crimp in the workouts I’m supposed to be doing to turn myself into an FBI agent.

APRIL 26-MAY 4
Honeymoon in Florence
MGM and Universal brought us all over to Florence for rehearsal, costume fittings, and a press conference. None of my scenes were being shot in Italy, so I had nothing to do for a week but get fat. Which I did. Cal went to every restaurant in town and ate everything that was put in front of him, and I was right there with him. I knew I’d have to spend the next month, after my toe healed, losing five pounds.

There wasn’t much I could say at the press conference. Tony could talk about the character, and Ridley could talk about his plans for the movie, but I had nothing to contribute except that I was happy to be in Italy, which is a very beautiful country. There were the inevitable Jodie Foster questions, to which I said—as I always do—she’s great, she’s brilliant, and I hope I can act the role half as well as she did.

Came home feeling enormous, with only one month to get in shape. Ridley never said, “I need you to lose weight.” That’s just me being a girl. He did tell me I needed to put on five pounds of muscle. I started working out furiously.

MAY 10
Special Agents
My stunt double, Cinda-Lin James, and I went to Washington, D.C., to FBI headquarters, and we met a woman named Melissa Thomas, who has worked on a violent-crime squad. Ridley picked her because she matches the perfect profile he wanted for a female FBI agent: young, attractive, very bright and fun to be with, articulate, in teresting. Melissa, who stayed with us through much of the shoot, took us around the FBI offices, and then we went down to Quantico in Virginia and did some shooting and training exercises. Years ago, I shot a submachine gun in one movie, but that was my only previous experience.

The people I met at the FBI had a great sense of humor and were incredible risk takers. There were two women agents, Monique and Lou, who were planning a drug raid that night. They saw me edging toward them and said, “Come on over. What do you want to know?” They emptied their purses and showed me where they keep their guns and handcuffs, which for a woman is not so easy. They have these things called paddle holsters that stick into your pants. Many agents keep their handcuffs in their pants, but some women keep them in their purses. You think there’s a regulation way to do things, but then you speak to people and find out that, obviously, it’s a personal choice. Those women were great. And it was fun for me to see that they all had long hair. Lou told me, “Don’t cut your hair!” because they were tired of seeing FBI women portrayed as just someone in a suit with a bob.