Trent Anderson: Capitol police chief, he is very rugged, determined and straight.
Alfonso Nuñez: Capitol security guard, he is level-headed and very perceptive.
Jonas Faukman: This name is an anagram of Brown’s real-life editor, Jason Kaufman and plays an editor of a New York newspaper.
Officer Paige Montgomery: She is a private security company officer.
APPENDIX TWO
* * *
THE FILMS
The following information can be found on a variety of websites across the internet, including the Wikipedia web pages for each film and imdb.com.
THE DA VINCI CODE
Production
Director:Ron Howard
Producers:Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and John Calley
Screenplay:Akiva Goldsman, based on Brown’s The Da Vinci Code novel
Original Score:Hans Zimmer
Cinematography:Salvatore Totino
Editing:Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
Studio:Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment
Distribution:Columbia Pictures
US Release:19 May, 2006
Running time:149 minutes
Languages:English, French, Spanish and Latin
Country of Origin:United States
Budget:$125 million
Gross revenue:$758,239,851
Cast
Professor Robert Langdon:Tom Hanks
Sophie Neveu:Audrey Tautou
Sir Leigh Teabing:Sir Ian McKellen
Silas:Paul Bettany
Bezu Fache:Jean Reno
Bishop Aringarosa:Alfred Molina
Mary Magdalene:Charlotte Graham
André Vernet:Jürgen Prochnow
Lt. Jérôme Collet:Etienne Chicot
Remy Jean (Rémy Legaludec in the novel):Jean-Yves Berteloot
Jacques Saunière:Jean-Pierre Marielle
Young Silas:Hugh Mitchell
Michael the Cleric:Seth Gabel
Sister Sandrine: Marie-Françoise Audollent
Description
The film was released in the US on 19 May 2006 through Columbia Pictures entering major release in many other countries the day before. On 17 May 2006 it was previewed at the Cannes Film Festival opening night.
As with Brown’s book the movie generated a lot of controversy from the Catholic Church. Indeed, many churches called for its members to boycott the film. Protestors appeared at some early screenings and some early reviews were very negative but this had little impact on audience numbers. In fact, the film grossed more than $230 million the first weekend, making it the third most profitable film opening weekend ever while worldwide, The Da Vinci Code earned more than £758,239,851 as of 2 November 2006, proving it to be the second highest-grossing film of that year.
Ron Howard and Tom Hanks had both worked together on two other Howard films, Splash in 1984 and Apollo 13 in 1995. They also worked on the prequel film version of Dan Brown’s second novel and first Robert Langdon book, Angels & Demons along with the third Robert Langdon novel, The Lost Symbol.
Composer Hans Zimmer was nominated for the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Film Notes
Dan Brown sold the film rights for The Da Vinci Code for $6,000,000 with the filming scheduled for a May 2005 start but delays caused the filming to start on 30 June 2005.
For locations, the film producers procured permission to film in the Louvre but were not allowed to shine any light on the Mona Lisa so they used a replica and used the Mona Lisa’s chamber as a storage room during filming. For the scenes set in Westminster Abbey the crew were able to use Lincoln and Winchester cathedrals to substitute for Westminster Abbey and Saint-Sulpice.
The Saint-Sulpice location was recreated by Rainmaker U.K. a post-production company. The fee for the use of Lincoln Cathedral was £100,000 and filming there took place between the 15 and 19 August 2005. Winchester Cathedral was heavily criticised for allowing its premises to be used for the film and so answered these jibes by funding an exhibition and lecture series debunking the book. Other UK locations included Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire for Castel Gandolfo and Shoreham Airport in West Sussex for Le Bourget Airport, along with Fairfield Halls, the Temple Church in London, Burghley House in Lincolnshire, and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Other locations were shot in France and Germany.
Pinewood Studios was used for many of the interior scenes including the opening sequences, where a replica of the interior of the Louvre was created. Also shot at Pinewood were the underwater sequences at the new state-of-the-art Underwater Stage at Pinewood.
Reactions to the Film
Before the film was released Archbishop Angelo Amato, on behalf of the Vatican, called for a boycott of the film at a conference on 28 April 2006 while Opus Dei, the organisation figuring prominently in the book, issued a statement on 14 February 2006 asking for references that could offend Catholics be removed from the film. The same organisation later issued another statement on 16 April asking the film makers to include a disclaimer as a sign of respect to the history of the Church, religious beliefs of viewers and to Jesus Christ.
In America, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film and Broadcasting rated the film as morally offensive because of the errors and theories in it. Catholic groups and churches across the world denounced the film with church leaders urging their members not to see it. In China, the production did very well, grossing over $13 million before the government quickly pulled it for no reason.
Other countries followed, especially in the Philippines where the Philippine Alliance Against Pornography demanded the president of the country pull the film, saying it was pornographic. It was eventually rated as 18 Restricted without interference from President Malacañang. In Lebanon the film was banned outright. In India influential Christian groups demanded the film be banned and in some states such as the Punjab it has been. But where it was released it was given an ‘Adults Only’ rating along with a disclaimer saying the film is a work of fiction.
Tom Hanks, who plays Robert Langdon, said during an interview with the Evening Standard that the film was merely a fun scavenger hunt and should be taken at face value.
Critical Response
Overall the response from the critics is poor and it was poorly received at the Cannes Film Festival where it debuted. The reviews were not all bad; some praised the film as being a production that assumes the audience have the intelligence to understand the many twists and turns in the plot.
Box Office
Even so, the film grossed more than $29 million on its opening day in the US and more than $224 million around the world on its opening weekend. It stands as third for opening weekends behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and X-Men: The Last Stand while being in second place in the highest grossing opening weekend worldwide behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. In its first week it was Number 1 at the US Box Office, grossing more than $111 million and in 2006 was the fifth highest gross of that year. Less than a month after its release in the US it passed the $200 million mark.
On DVD
Three editions of the film were released on 14 November 2006, a three disc release in widescreen and full screen along with a History Channel documentary, a two-disc set and a special edition set including a Robert Langdon replica journal and working cryptex along with the two-disc set. Each edition includes director Ron Howard’s introduction and other bonus material. An extended version with an additional 25 minutes of film was released in Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. Both Hong Kong and Korea got the extended version on a two-disc set along with the special edition featuring the working cryptex and journal which was also released in France and Spain. On 28 April 2009 the extended version was released in North American on blue-ray.
ANGELS & DEMONS
Production
Director:Ron Howard
Executive Producers: Dan Brown, Todd Hallowell, Marco Valerio Pugini (Italy)
> Producers:Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and John Calley
Associate Producers:William M. Connor, Anna Culp, Kathleen McGill and Louisa Velis
Screenplay:Akiva Goldsman and David Koepp
Cinematography:Salvatore Totino
Original Score:Hans Zimmer
Editing:Dan Hanley
Casting:Janet Hirschenson, Jane Jenkins and Michelle Lewitt
Production Design:Allan Cameron
Art Direction:Alex Cameron
Set Decoration:Robert Gould
Costume Design:Daniel Orlandi
Makeup Department:David Abbott
Studio:Columbia Pictures, Imagine Entertainment
Distribution:Columbia Pictures
US Release:15 May 2009
UK Release:14 May 2009
Running time:138 minutes, 146 minutes extended edition
Languages:English, French, Spanish and Latin
Country of Origin:United States
Budget:$150 million
Box Office Gross:$133,375,846 (USA) 2 August 2009, $352,600,000 internationally, and $485,975,846 worldwide according to The Numbers web site at http:// www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/ANDEM.php
Cast
Robert Langdon:Tom Hanks
Camerlengo McKenna:Ewan McGregor (Carlo Ventresca in the book)
Vittoria Vetra:Ayelet Zurer
Commander Maximilian Richter: Stellan Skarsgård (Combination of Kohler and Rocher in the book)
Inspector Ernest Olivetti:Pierfrancesco Favino
The Assassin:Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Claudio Vincenzi:David Pasquesi Vatican police officer
Cardinal Strauss:Armin Mueller-Stahl (Mortati in the book)
Lieutenant Chartrand:Thure Lindhardt
Cardinal Petrov:Elya Baskin
RAI reporter:Pasquale Cassalia
Swiss Guardsman:Auguste Fredrik
CERN Scientist:Endre Hules
Description
The film rights to this book were acquired in 2003 by Sony along with the rights to The Da Vinci Code. Akiva Goldsman was brought in to adapt the novel Angels & Demons for the screen. But the filming, due to start in February 2008 was halted by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Instead of a release date in December 2008 the strike pushed the release date to 15 May 2009 and David Koepp was brought in to finish the script.
With The Da Vinci Code, director Ron Howard had taken a reverential approach because of the popularity of the book but with Angels & Demons he wanted to be more liberal with the adaptation of the story. He wanted a much faster paced action tale rather than the more ponderous story that the earlier film had been.
Differences between novel and film
One key difference was that of the Camerlengo, who was changed from being Italian to Northern Irish, largely to accommodate actor Ewan McGregor.
The character of Leonardo Vetra, Vittoria’s father, is omitted from the film while Cardinal Baggia, the one tipped to be the next Pope, doesn’t die in the film and it is he who shows Langdon the hiding place of the Illuminati. Baggia is elected Pope while in the novel Cardinal Mortati, the Dean of the College, is elected and Baggia dies. The assassin doesn’t die at the hands of Langdon and Vittoria and no relationship develops after Langdon rescues Vittoria in the film whereas it does in the book. The brand that is indefinitely loaned to Langdon for his help at the end of the book which is an ambigram of a combination of the four elements is replaced by Galileo’s Diagramma della Veritatis in the film.
Film Notes
Three weeks of shooting took place in Rome starting on 4 June 2008 under the working title Obelisk. The rest of the film was shot at Sony Studios in Culver City California, due to an impending Screen Actors Guild strike and Roman Catholic Church officials in Rome refusing the film makers to shoot any scenes in their churches. This forced them to use different locations such as the Caserta Palace for the inside of the Vatican and the Bibliotheca Angelica for the Vatican Library.
While the Writers Guild strike had forced Howard to shoot quickly it gave him greater opportunity to use handheld cameras, injecting more energy into the film and giving it a documentary feel.
To replicate the interior of St Peter’s Basilica the area around the crypt beneath St Peter’s baldachin, along with the bottom parts of St Peter’s Statue and the columns, were reproduced on the soundstage and the rest of the structure created digitally in post production.
Allan Cameron, the Production Designer, sent twenty people to the Sistine Chapel to sketch, photograph and enlarge paintings and mosaics for the digital recreations. The Chapel was created to full size in the sound stages but the Sala Regia was built to smaller scale to fit in the soundstage with its 80-foot high ceilings.
Music
Hans Zimmer wrote the original score for Angels & Demons, which was released on 22 May 2009 on the Columbia Pictures Industries Inc label. Zimmer developed the track at the end of The Da Vinci Code known as ‘Chevaliers de Sangreal’ as Langdon’s main theme in the new film.
Reception
Though the Catholic Church has not been as vocal in condemning Angels & Demons one Italian priest in Santa Susanna stated they did not want scenes of murder to be associated with the Church. The President of the Catholic League, William A. Donohue, said that Catholics should let other Catholics know about the anti-Catholic sentiments in the film. Howard responded by saying that the film wasn’t anti-Catholic because Langdon supported and protected the Church as well as its depiction of the priests who support scientific advances.
However, the film received a positive review from the official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, that stated the Church was on the side of good in the film which contradicted its earlier stance that it would not approve it.
Critical reception
Overall critics gave the film mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes website said that out of 237 critics only 36% gave it a positive review. The general feeling was that it was an improvement on The Da Vinci Code. However, despite this the site said the story didn’t translate well to the big screen.
Box office
After its release in May 2009 the film’s overseas position remained at number one for the second weekend ahead of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Domestically, the film met Columbia Pictures opening predictions of $40-50 million while The Da Vinci Code opened to $77.1 million. The difference was put down to the film’s material not being as popular as The Da Vinci Code.
However, worldwide the film grossed $478,869,160 within more than a month, making it the largest grossing film of 2009 until Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen surpassed it. Interestingly, of this total amount only 27 per cent were domestic takings, the rest being from worldwide totals. For example, in the UK it grossed over $30 million, in Spain it was $21 million, with $13 million in Brazil and in Russia, Japan grossed $34 million and Germany saw earnings of $47 million. At the time of writing Angels & Demons stands at the ninth highest grossing film of 2009 worldwide.
DVD
On 24 November 2009 a two-disc set DVD was released in Region 1 that was an extended edition running six minutes longer, while in Region 2 a single disc DVD was released a month earlier on 4 October 2009.
THE LOST SYMBOL
This film is, at the time of writing, still in pre-production.
Production:
Director:Ron Howard (not yet confirmed)
Producers:Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and John Calley
Screenplay:Steven Knight and Dan Brown
Original Score:Hans Zimmer
Release Date:2012
Distribution:Imagine Entertainment and Columbia Pictures
Country of Origin:United States
Language:English
Robert Langdon:Tom Hanks
DAN BROWN US/UK BIBLIOGRAPHY
BY CRAIG CABELL
What follows is a guide to collecting the first editions of Dan Brown in both the UK and US. As there are not many titles, special signed and illustrated editio
ns are also included for clarity. Interesting paperbacks are also included, but not every paperback, as these are not as collectable as hardback books; only paperbacks that predate hardback issues are listed.
Special note regarding first hardback editions: If you are seriously collecting first edition hardbacks, either US or UK, ensure that the number line – if the book has one – on the copyright page has a ‘1’ in it, which denotes first edition, or has ‘First Edition’ clearly written on it. A good example are the Harry Potter books in first edition, where the first three books in the series has ‘10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1’ on copyright page, while books four, five, six and seven have ‘First Edition’. A number line that reads (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3) denotes a third edition.
To my mind the most important aspects of collecting first editions are:
• A price being on the dust jacket.
• The correct publisher noted on the spine of dust jacket and on the title page of the book.
• Correct number line or first edition state on copyright page.
Books that have GP, Guild Press, BCA, Ted Smart or World Book as publisher are normally listed as Book Club Editions and therefore worthless. Books that do not have a price on the dust jacket are normally passed off as Export Editions when in fact they are more often than not reserved for Book Club or libraries.
The Dan Brown Enigma Page 23