Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny holds an unexpected tie to Hannibal

Bryan Fuller’s feature-film directorial debut, Dust Bunny, is an R-rated horror fairy tale that co-stars Mads Mikkelsen as a soft-spoken but menacing hit man credited as “Intriguing Neighbor.” Mikkelsen previously played Hannibal Lecter in Fuller’s TV series Hannibal, giving the film an obvious link to Thomas Harris’ novels.

The connection runs deeper than casting. Fuller says both his film and Harris’ books are tied by their portrayal of children and how they respond to horrifying circumstances. “I love children being their own heroes,” he tells Polygon, citing kid protagonists in The Goonies and Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and noting that even The Shining is about a little boy who becomes his own hero.

Dust Bunny follows Aurora (Sophie Sloan), who hires her neighbor to deal with the monster under her bed after the creature eats her parents. Fuller contrasts that story with Harris’ characters — notably Francis Dolarhyde from Red Dragon — whose brutal childhoods shape violent adults.

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