Anthony Hopkins just can't get enough of that human flesh. The actor who has done more for the sales of fava beans and Chianti than the most concerted supermarket advertising campaign could ever hope to achieve is in discussions to reprise his role as the cannibal psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter in a film version of Red Dragon.

Universal Pictures is keen to take the adaptation of Thomas Harris's 1981 novel into production this year for Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis. The book was the first to introduce the character of Lecter and Reuters says Hopkins has said for some time he would consider the role provided the script is good enough.

Red Dragon tells the familiar tale of FBI special agent Will Graham, who comes out of retirement to track a serial killer. In order to close in on his prey Graham must seek the help of the incarcerated Lecter, who attacked him several years before. While filmgoers will be drooling at the prospect of another serving of Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, it is easy to forget that Red Dragon has already been turned into a movie.

In 1986 Michael Mann, whose credits include Heat and The Insider, filmed a low-key, highly introspective version called Manhunter, which starred Brian Cox as Lecter. Despite a cult following, the film only made £6m, but Dino De Laurentiis smelled profit in the air and bought the Lecter character and the sequel rights. Five years later Hopkins assumed the Lecter mantle and won an Oscar for his portrayal in The Silence of the Lambs and followed it up with the successful release earlier this year of Hannibal.

Brett Ratner, who directed The Family Man, is in the frame to helm the film.