Freddy Lounds
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Freddy Lounds is a fictional character in the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. In Manhunter, the first film adaptation of the novel, he is played by Stephen Lang. In Red Dragon, the second adaptation, he is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
A reporter for the tabloid The National Tattler, Lounds wrote a gossip column focusing largely on serial killers and the police officers who pursue them. Shortly after FBI profiler Will Graham apprehended Dr. Hannibal Lecter, he was hospitalized for injuries inflicted by Lecter. Lounds sneaked into his hospital room and took pictures of the unconscious Graham, and also documented Graham's extensive psychiatric therapy afterwards. Graham retired from the FBI soon after that but held a lasting resentment against Lounds.
Years later, when Jack Crawford called Graham out of retirement, Lounds started tracking him, and discovered that Graham had gone to Lecter for help in his search for the "Tooth Fairy" killer, aka Francis Dolarhyde. Lounds reported this, and Dolarhyde himself bought a copy of his paper. This in turn inspired him to write to Lecter, sending coded messages by way of The Tattler's personal ads. Lecter replied by sending Dolarhyde a coded message for Graham's home address in Florida.
Once Graham and Crawford were informed of the message, they went into action to protect Graham's family. Graham's wife and stepson were taken the home of Crawford's brother, while Graham himself was taken to an apartment in Washington, D.C. They then turned to Lounds, tricking him into thinking he was being given "exclusive information" about the case. Lounds took photographs of Graham in his D.C. apartment, making sure to include notable landmarks in the background, to send the message that Graham wasn't home, and to encourage Dolarhyde to strike at him there instead of at home. Graham also gave Lounds false information about the clues Lecter has given him, saying Dolarhyde may be a homosexual or impotent. By attributing these insults to Lecter, they hoped to trick Dolarhyde into breaking the contact.
Instead, Dolarhyde kidnapped Lounds himself, stripped him naked, and superglued him to a wheelchair in his home. While there, he explained his "transformation" into the "Red Dragon," which he believed was brought closer to fruition with every murder. He made Lounds record a confession in which he admitted that he lied in his article, blamed Graham and Crawford for making him do it, and professed his gratitude at being witness to part of Dolarhyde's "transformation." Once he had completed the recording, Dolarhyde bit off Lounds's lips, doused him in gasoline, and set him on fire. Dolarhyde then dropped him off in the parking garage of the Tattler. Lounds later died from the injuries in the hospital. Before dying, he blamed Graham for what happened to him.
