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Cadet
Russell Crowe? He's the actor that I absolutely did not want to see in this part. It's be too predictable of a casting and Crowe has already played a role similar to this.
Drama and Thriller
The murder of a curator at the Louvre reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected since the days of Christ. Only the victim's granddaughter and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle the clues he left behind. The two become both suspects and detectives searching for not only the murderer but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect.
Release Date: May 19, 2006 Nationwide.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated.
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Starring: Tom Hanks
Directed by: Ron Howard
Produced by: Brian Grazer, John Calley
Release Date: May 19th, 2006 (wide)
Release Date Note: (2/14/05) The other big summer movie currently scheduled for May 19th, 2006 (a weekend often reserved in the past for the 'Star Wars' movies) is the DreamWorks Feature Animation CGI romp, Over the Hedge, starring Bruce Willis in a story of suburban wildlife gone wild(er).
Distributor: Columbia Pictures (Sony)
Production Company: Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard's company, with Bryan Grazer)
Cast:
Tom Hanks (Dr. Robert Langdon),
Audrey Tautou (Agent Sophie Neveu),
Jean Reno (Captain Bezu Fache); other cast not announced yet.
Cast Notes: (2/14/05)
Early candidates for the lead role of Dr. Robert Langdon included Hugh Jackman, George Clooney, Russell Crowe and Tom Hanks, who of course, won the role, and from my reading of the book, was clearly the right choice. Another name that was floated around in the media last fall was French actress Julie Delpy, who actively campaigned for the role of Sophie. Again, I have to say... Audrey Tautou was a more obvious choice, though neither of these was as obvious as Jean Reno. I mean, really, who else *could* they have cast as a hard-nosed French cop? As far as America goes, Jean Reno is pretty much the only viable choice, oui?
Besides all that, the other casting issue that has been garnering a bit of press of late is the character of Silas, who can probably best be described as an "albino monk assassin" (to differentiate him from all the other types of monk assassins), or at least, that's the way he was described in the book. Albino rights groups are lobbying loudly for the character's albinoism to be removed, to prevent people from associating the skin disorder from being as associated with evil as it already is (those creepy twins in the 'Matrix' movies, for example).
Director:
Ron Howard (Parenthood, A Beautiful Mind, Willow, Apollo 13; next up before this is Cinderella Man)
Screenwriter:
Akiva Goldsman (Lost in Space, Batman & Robin, A Beautiful Mind; cowriter of Cinderella Man)
Based Upon: (2/14/05)
This movie is, of course, based upon the ridiculously popular mystery/suspense novel by Dan Brown. At one point, before the novel became quite that popular, the producer of the TV series "24" sought the rights to the novel to incorporate it into the show as the core of the third season's plot, but author Dan Brown completely rejected the concept, holding out for movie rights. A few months later, Sony paid Brown $6 million for just that.
Premise:
When respected American religious symbology expert Dr. Robert Langdon (Hanks) is summoned to the Louvre by the French version of the FBI, led by Captain Fezu Bache (Reno), he soon discovered that he is the #1 suspect for the murder of a historian Langdon had been scheduled to meet with. Assisted by a French cryptographer and government agent named Sophie (Tautou), Langdon is challenged to decipher a chain of cryptic codes and puzzles, all the while trying to stay ahead of Bache's lawmen in a chase through the Louvre, and out into the Parisian cityscape, and finally across the channel to England. Can Langdon and Sophie decipher the nature of a secret dating back to Leonardo Da Vinci (and even earlier) before those responsible for the historian's murder add them to their hit list?
Filming: (2/14/05)
Production is scheduled to start in Paris, France in May, 2005, with much of the filming expected to be done at the Louvre (which is the setting for about half the movie) during night hours and Tuesdays (the only day each week the museum is closed).
Genre: Based on a Book, French, Mystery, Thriller
Official Organization Site:
OpusDei.org(the real life version of the mysterious group portrayed in the novel; this is their reaction to their depiction in it)