Hannibal (2001) — A Pittsburgh Connection

I just rewatched Hannibal (2001), the direct sequel to The Silence of the Lambs — the film where Anthony Hopkins first portrayed the infamous Hannibal Lecter and won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1991.

What many people don’t know is that the original masterpiece, The Silence of the Lambs, was largely filmed in my hometown of Pittsburgh. And in a strange twist, I’ve spent time at several of the filming locations myself.

The mental institution where Hannibal Lecter first resides was a real place called Western Center, just a couple of miles south of Pittsburgh. It functioned as a mental institution well into the early 1990s. When I was in ninth…