HE'S NO WILLIAM PETERSEN - Is it just me, or does Edward Norton look too young to play weathered FBI agent Will Graham in the upcoming Silence of the Lambs prequel, Red Dragon (opens Oct. 4, click here for the film's official site)? I caught a glimpse of the one-sheet for the first time Sunday night and I'm beginning to doubt whether I can take him seriously in the role.

The choice of Rush Hour director Brett Ratner to helm Red Dragon, based on the Thomas Harris novel of the same name, was a dubious choice to begin with. My doubts about the film -- previously adapted for the screen in 1986 by Michael Mann as the slightly cornball-ish but creepy Manhunter (1986) -- were quelled a bit when the final cast was unveiled. (Click here for Jeffrey Wells' take on the decision to re-make Dragon.) Let's face it, you can't really argue with Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, and, of course, Anthony Hopkins, reprising his role as Hannibal Lecter (played first in Mann's version by Brian Cox).

But now Norton's boyish looks -- he's actually 33 -- have me worried again. Maybe it's the fact that the underrated William Petersen (now of CSI fame), with his perpetually salty gray hair, looked older than his years in Manhunter. For what it's worth, IMDb says Petersen was born in 1953 which means he too was just 33 when he played Graham. Still, we're supposed to believe that Graham has so much skill and experience as an FBI profiler that he was able to catch Lecter. [Do any Thomas Harris aficionados out there know how old Graham is in the book? If so, please share.] Somehow Ed Norton just doesn't seem gritty, savvy, or just plain beaten down enough - a suspicion confirmed by the new Red Dragon trailer.

Overall, it's one of the more effective previews I've seen recently, beginning with Fiennes' spooky narration of a letter he is writing to Lecter ("Good Dr., I have admired you for years..."). Then again, maybe the trailer works so well because Norton doesn't show up until 40 seconds in (unlike the decidedly less compelling first trailer that focuses from the beginning on Graham). Standing stiffly in front of Lecter's cell, soliciting his help in tracking down an elusive serial killer known as the "Tooth Fairy," he seems to be doing a rather bland Jodie Foster impression.

I'm curious to know whether anybody else has a similar reaction. Even if Norton doesn't quite fit the role, watching Hopkins devour tongue-in-cheek lines like: "I do. I have oooodles," when Graham says he doesn't have much time, and "I'll call you if I think of anything else. Would you perhaps like to give me your home number?", is still as fun/scary as hell as it was in Silence of the Lambs.

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