Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Author McEwan denies “Atonement” copy claim

By Mike Collett-White
LONDON (Reuters)

Novelist Ian McEwan on Monday denied claims that he copied the work of another author when writing his acclaimed bestseller “Atonement”.  The Mail on Sunday reported that Lucilla Andrews had been planning to draw attention to the similarities between her autobiography “No Time For Romance” and sections of “Atonement” at an awards ceremony.  But the elderly writer fell ill and died last month aged 86.

Her former agent Vanessa Holt said that Andrews, who made a living from so-called “hospital romances”, had been aware of the parallels between her autobiography and “Atonement” about a year before she died, after a student drew attention to them.  But Holt denied Andrews had been planning to make a public swipe at McEwan, one of the country’s most revered authors.  “She may have taken a different view if she had been younger, but she was elderly when she found out,” Holt told Reuters.  When asked what she thought of McEwan’s rebuttal, printed on the front page of Monday’s Guardian newspaper, Holt replied: “I think I remain of the opinion that it was discourteous from one writer to another not to seek her approval.” She added that the matter was unlikely to go any further.

The claim is the latest plagiarism controversy to hit the literary world. U.S. author Dan Brown appeared in court in London in February and March to deny accusations he copied wholesale to write his bestseller “The Da Vinci Code”.  Brown won the high-profile case against two historians, although they have said they would appeal against the verdict.

McEwan, 58, said Andrews was a source of “inspiration” for his novel and its characters.  “An inspiration, yes. Did I copy from another author? No,” he said on his Web site (http://www.ianmcewan.com).  While researching “Atonement”, his 2001 work shortlisted for the Booker prize for fiction, he came across “No Time For Romance” in an Oxford library and drew on its descriptions of life in a London hospital during World War Two.  “As with the Dunkirk section, I drew on the scenes she described,” he wrote in his rebuttal.  “For certain long-outdated medical practices, she was my sole source and I have always been grateful to her.” He added that he acknowledged his debt to Andrews in the author’s note at the end of “Atonement” and spoke about her in numerous interviews.  “My one regret is not meeting her,” he continued. “But if people are now talking about Lucilla Andrews, I am glad.”

As with “The Da Vinci Code”, “Atonement” is being adapted into a Hollywood movie, starring Keira Knightley. It is due for release in August and September 2007.



Posted by Admin on 11/28 at 12:24 AM
News • Permalink

Author McEwan denies “Atonement” copy claim

By Mike Collett-White
LONDON (Reuters)

Novelist Ian McEwan on Monday denied claims that he copied the work of another author when writing his acclaimed bestseller “Atonement”.  The Mail on Sunday reported that Lucilla Andrews had been planning to draw attention to the similarities between her autobiography “No Time For Romance” and sections of “Atonement” at an awards ceremony.  But the elderly writer fell ill and died last month aged 86.

Her former agent Vanessa Holt said that Andrews, who made a living from so-called “hospital romances”, had been aware of the parallels between her autobiography and “Atonement” about a year before she died, after a student drew attention to them.  But Holt denied Andrews had been planning to make a public swipe at McEwan, one of the country’s most revered authors.  “She may have taken a different view if she had been younger, but she was elderly when she found out,” Holt told Reuters.  When asked what she thought of McEwan’s rebuttal, printed on the front page of Monday’s Guardian newspaper, Holt replied: “I think I remain of the opinion that it was discourteous from one writer to another not to seek her approval.” She added that the matter was unlikely to go any further.

The claim is the latest plagiarism controversy to hit the literary world. U.S. author Dan Brown appeared in court in London in February and March to deny accusations he copied wholesale to write his bestseller “The Da Vinci Code”.  Brown won the high-profile case against two historians, although they have said they would appeal against the verdict.

McEwan, 58, said Andrews was a source of “inspiration” for his novel and its characters.  “An inspiration, yes. Did I copy from another author? No,” he said on his Web site (http://www.ianmcewan.com).  While researching “Atonement”, his 2001 work shortlisted for the Booker prize for fiction, he came across “No Time For Romance” in an Oxford library and drew on its descriptions of life in a London hospital during World War Two.  “As with the Dunkirk section, I drew on the scenes she described,” he wrote in his rebuttal.  “For certain long-outdated medical practices, she was my sole source and I have always been grateful to her.” He added that he acknowledged his debt to Andrews in the author’s note at the end of “Atonement” and spoke about her in numerous interviews.  “My one regret is not meeting her,” he continued. “But if people are now talking about Lucilla Andrews, I am glad.”

As with “The Da Vinci Code”, “Atonement” is being adapted into a Hollywood movie, starring Keira Knightley. It is due for release in August and September 2007.



Posted by Admin on 11/28 at 12:24 AM
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Monday, November 27, 2006

Unlucky Monday the 27th

Monday 27th is unluckier than Friday 13th (from This is London.co.uk):

If you thought Friday the 13th was the scariest date in the calendar, think again.  The unluckiest day of all is Monday the 27th, say insurers.  In other words, it is today that we should tread with extra care and keep our fingers crossed wherever we go.

Analysis of a million insurance claims has revealed that accidents are more likely to happen on Monday the 27th than on any other day.  Researchers have uncovered a disproportionate series of bizarre mishaps which have occurred on this day in previous years, including one man who put his foot through a ceiling while fetching Christmas decorations from the loft.  On the same day a forgetful woman flooded her house after leaving the bath taps running, and another’s pet cat started a house blaze by knocking over a candle.  Also happening with greater frequency were crashes in car parks, tree branches falling on cars and accidents caused by trying to avoid animals. It is thought that Monday the 27th could hold greater risks than other days because the combination of post-weekend tiredness and the end of the month contributes to increased carelessness.

AA Insurance, which carried out the study, said that this month’s stormy weather, longer nights and leaves on the road meant that driving conditions could make today particularly hazardous.  Ian Crowder, at the AA, said his company processed around five per cent more claims on Monday February 27 and Monday March 27 this year than would be expected on an average day.  While today makes three Monday the 27ths this year, it happened only once in 2005, 2002 and 2001, and twice in 2004, 2003 and 2000. According to a survey of 4,000 people carried by Dr Richard Wiseman in 2003, nine out of ten of us are superstitious.

The fear of Friday the 13th, technically known as paraskavedekatriaphobia, is thought to have its origins in the Bible, as it was on a Friday when Eve took a bite from the apple.  The significance of the unlucky number 13 could date back to early Western civilisation, when it was thought to represent devil worship.  Another theory, mentioned in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, is that the Knights Templar were decimated on Friday the 13th.



Posted by Admin on 11/27 at 04:24 AM
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Unlucky Monday the 27th

Monday 27th is unluckier than Friday 13th (from This is London.co.uk):

If you thought Friday the 13th was the scariest date in the calendar, think again.  The unluckiest day of all is Monday the 27th, say insurers.  In other words, it is today that we should tread with extra care and keep our fingers crossed wherever we go.

Analysis of a million insurance claims has revealed that accidents are more likely to happen on Monday the 27th than on any other day.  Researchers have uncovered a disproportionate series of bizarre mishaps which have occurred on this day in previous years, including one man who put his foot through a ceiling while fetching Christmas decorations from the loft.  On the same day a forgetful woman flooded her house after leaving the bath taps running, and another’s pet cat started a house blaze by knocking over a candle.  Also happening with greater frequency were crashes in car parks, tree branches falling on cars and accidents caused by trying to avoid animals. It is thought that Monday the 27th could hold greater risks than other days because the combination of post-weekend tiredness and the end of the month contributes to increased carelessness.

AA Insurance, which carried out the study, said that this month’s stormy weather, longer nights and leaves on the road meant that driving conditions could make today particularly hazardous.  Ian Crowder, at the AA, said his company processed around five per cent more claims on Monday February 27 and Monday March 27 this year than would be expected on an average day.  While today makes three Monday the 27ths this year, it happened only once in 2005, 2002 and 2001, and twice in 2004, 2003 and 2000. According to a survey of 4,000 people carried by Dr Richard Wiseman in 2003, nine out of ten of us are superstitious.

The fear of Friday the 13th, technically known as paraskavedekatriaphobia, is thought to have its origins in the Bible, as it was on a Friday when Eve took a bite from the apple.  The significance of the unlucky number 13 could date back to early Western civilisation, when it was thought to represent devil worship.  Another theory, mentioned in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, is that the Knights Templar were decimated on Friday the 13th.



Posted by Admin on 11/27 at 04:24 AM
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Saturday, September 23, 2006

“The Da Vinci Code” special edition giftset

Just in time for the holidays (surprise, surprise!), comes the release of a special giftset edition of “The Da Vinci Code” DVD.  According to Amazon.com, the giftset includes 2 DVDs with the following features:

Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Includes collectible cryptex and Robert Langdon Journal
First Day on the Set with Ron Howard Featurette: Director Ron Howard introduces the film and the excitement of beginning production at the Louvre in Paris
Featurette on “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown
Featurette: A Portrait of Langdon
Featurette: Who is Sophie Neveu?
Featurette: Unusual Suspects - The international cast…Colorful, memorable and frightening characters
Featurette: Magical Places
Featurette: Close-up on Mona Lisa
Featurette: The Filmmaking Experience Part 1 - Includes a DVD exclusive look at filming the last and revealing scene
Featurette: The Filmmaking Experience Part 2
Featurette: The Codes of “The Da Vinci Code”
Featurette: The Music of “The Da Vinci Code”
DVD ROM - “Da Vinci Code” Puzzle Game PC Demo
Bonus previews

If nothing else, the packaging looks beautiful, and I’m sure it would thrill any Dan Brown fan who received it as a gift.  Click here for pre-ordering information:  The Da Vinci Code special edition DVD gift set

image



Posted by Admin on 09/23 at 11:27 PM
News • Permalink

“The Da Vinci Code” special edition giftset

Just in time for the holidays (surprise, surprise!), comes the release of a special giftset edition of “The Da Vinci Code” DVD.  According to Amazon.com, the giftset includes 2 DVDs with the following features:

Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Includes collectible cryptex and Robert Langdon Journal
First Day on the Set with Ron Howard Featurette: Director Ron Howard introduces the film and the excitement of beginning production at the Louvre in Paris
Featurette on “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown
Featurette: A Portrait of Langdon
Featurette: Who is Sophie Neveu?
Featurette: Unusual Suspects - The international cast…Colorful, memorable and frightening characters
Featurette: Magical Places
Featurette: Close-up on Mona Lisa
Featurette: The Filmmaking Experience Part 1 - Includes a DVD exclusive look at filming the last and revealing scene
Featurette: The Filmmaking Experience Part 2
Featurette: The Codes of “The Da Vinci Code”
Featurette: The Music of “The Da Vinci Code”
DVD ROM - “Da Vinci Code” Puzzle Game PC Demo
Bonus previews

If nothing else, the packaging looks beautiful, and I’m sure it would thrill any Dan Brown fan who received it as a gift.  Click here for pre-ordering information:  The Da Vinci Code special edition DVD gift set

image



Posted by Admin on 09/23 at 11:27 PM
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Saturday, May 20, 2006

‘Da Vinci Code’ Opening Beats Expectation

‘Da Vinci Code’ Opening Beats Expectation

“The Da Vinci Code” banked an estimated $29 million at the box office on its first day in theaters, an industry official said Saturday, positioning the film to turn in the strongest opening weekend for any movie this year.

Preliminary results showed that the movie, based on a runaway best-seller and starring multiple-Oscar winner Tom Hanks, appealed to moviegoers despite lackluster reviews.

The Columbia Pictures movie opened in 3,735 theaters in the U.S. and grossed a respectable average of $7,764 per screen.

“This is the first big film of the summer to exceed box office expectations,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc., which tracks box office receipts.

Dergarabedian said the movie could gross $60 million to $80 million in its opening weekend. That would easily eclipse Tom Cruise’s latest offering, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible III,” which fell well below expectation with $48 million on its opening weekend earlier this month.

For “Da Vinci Code,” controversy around a script that suggests Jesus married and fathered a child “only served to pump up the marketplace and get moviegoers get really interested in seeing what the fuss was about,” Dergarabedian said.

“Whether you are a fan of the book or just a lover of great mystery thrillers, this film is a true entertainment event,” said Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Columbia Pictures. “We had an exceptionally strong Friday with sell out business reported in territories virtually all over the world.”

The film’s box office take was notable in a shaky Hollywood market but far from record-setting. Twenty-nine films have had single-day receipts that exceeded $30 million.

The record for the biggest opening day, $50 million, is held by last year’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.”

Preliminary three-day box-office estimates were to be released Sunday, with final figures expected Monday.



Posted by Admin on 05/20 at 08:24 PM
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‘Da Vinci Code’ Opening Beats Expectation

‘Da Vinci Code’ Opening Beats Expectation

“The Da Vinci Code” banked an estimated $29 million at the box office on its first day in theaters, an industry official said Saturday, positioning the film to turn in the strongest opening weekend for any movie this year.

Preliminary results showed that the movie, based on a runaway best-seller and starring multiple-Oscar winner Tom Hanks, appealed to moviegoers despite lackluster reviews.

The Columbia Pictures movie opened in 3,735 theaters in the U.S. and grossed a respectable average of $7,764 per screen.

“This is the first big film of the summer to exceed box office expectations,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc., which tracks box office receipts.

Dergarabedian said the movie could gross $60 million to $80 million in its opening weekend. That would easily eclipse Tom Cruise’s latest offering, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible III,” which fell well below expectation with $48 million on its opening weekend earlier this month.

For “Da Vinci Code,” controversy around a script that suggests Jesus married and fathered a child “only served to pump up the marketplace and get moviegoers get really interested in seeing what the fuss was about,” Dergarabedian said.

“Whether you are a fan of the book or just a lover of great mystery thrillers, this film is a true entertainment event,” said Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Columbia Pictures. “We had an exceptionally strong Friday with sell out business reported in territories virtually all over the world.”

The film’s box office take was notable in a shaky Hollywood market but far from record-setting. Twenty-nine films have had single-day receipts that exceeded $30 million.

The record for the biggest opening day, $50 million, is held by last year’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.”

Preliminary three-day box-office estimates were to be released Sunday, with final figures expected Monday.



Posted by Admin on 05/20 at 08:24 PM
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Sunday, May 07, 2006

The code that’s set to break records

Issue Date: Sunday, May 07, 2006
The code that’s set to break records
After as many twists and turns as in The Da Vinci Code itself, Ron Howard’s adaptation of the worldwide bestseller hits cinema screens this month. The director talks to John Hiscock


It must be the nearest thing to a sure-fire hit that has ever come out of Hollywood. After filming on locations that included the Louvre and several English churches and cathedrals, the film version of The Da Vinci Code is now being edited in preparation for a worldwide release on May 19, when it is expected to break all box office records.

After all, author Dan Brown’s controversial, conspiracy-minded religious thriller has become a global industry — the book has already sold 50 million hardback copies, with close to five million paperback sales in the UK so far. It has inspired reverential bus tours, spawned critical documentaries, been denounced by the Vatican and, most recently, been the subject of a high-profile court case. The publicity all this attracted has been more than any studio marketing department could have dreamt of.

The court case, brought by two historians who accused Brown of plagiarising their non-fiction book to write The Da Vinci Code, threatened for a while to put the film’s release in doubt. But a judge at the high court vindicated Brown last month, saying that, while the author may have copied parts of the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, it did not amount to a breach of copyright.

The publicity-shy Brown testified during the month-long trial, which was peppered with abstruse debate over the Merovingian monarchy, the Knights Templar and the bloodline of Jesus Christ, all of which feature in The Da Vinci Code.

But the court case is only one of the obstacles the film has had to overcome. Huge pressure was exerted on Sony, the studio making the film, from religious groups who wanted the film to differ from the novel, particularly in its inflammatory theory that for 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been covering up the fact that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter, whose bloodline has survived into present-day Europe.

The Catholic League and Opus Dei were among the groups petitioning for changes (and the latter is continuing to press for a disclaimer on the film itself), but the director Ron Howard has made it plain the film closely follows the book.

His goal, he says, was to duplicate the experience of reading the book, despite the fact that the book unfolds in real time over a day and the movie will run for about two- and-a-half hours. Certain things have been omitted, although nothing major has been changed.

“We used the novel as the basis for our movie,” says Howard, “and it is not a reinvention of the novel. It’s a screen adaptation of The Da Vinci Code.”

Howard, himself a fan of the book, had no intention of changing the storyline. “I’m very interested in the range of themes,” he said. “It’s intriguing on a lot of levels. It’s the kind of fiction that provokes thought and conversation and debate, and it did that for me when I read it. It’s quite unusual for a story to have that many ideas working in the same plot line, and I chose to make the film because I was intrigued by those ideas.”

For inspiration, Howard watched classic thrillers with spiritual elements, such as The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. He is once again working with his longtime producer Brian Grazer, with whom he made Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Ransom and Cinderella Man among others. Between them, their films have grossed billions of pounds and collected nine Oscars.

Although they usually develop their own projects, this time they were brought in by Sony, who had bought The Da Vinci Code as well as all future movie rights to the central Robert Langdon character, for a reported bargain price of £4 million.

Tom Hanks, who previously worked with Howard and Grazer on Apollo 13 and the romantic comedy Splash, stars as Langdon, the Harvard “symbology” professor who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery of biblical proportions.

Howard insists that friendship had nothing to do with the casting. Much of the action is cerebral, involving solving riddles, cracking codes and carrying out a Boolean key-word search at a London library.

“Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,” said Howard. “We probably don’t need his status from a box-office standpoint, but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy.”

The French actress Audrey Tautou was chosen as his co-star over three Oscar-winning actresses who reportedly lobbied mightily for the role. The cast also includes Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing, the former royal historian whose life’s passion is the Holy Grail; Alfred Molina as Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, the president-general of Opus Dei; Jean Reno as the deeply religious police captain Bezu Fache; and Paul Bettany as Silas, the murderous, self-flagellating albino Opus Dei monk.

“There’s something nice about being able to leave your sense of morality at the door when you come to work in the morning and just be cruel to people all day,” says Bettany. “It’s quite fun. In a lot of my scenes I’m on my own and I’d turn up for work and there’d be me and a crew and Ron Howard and it felt like a small, intimate, personal, independent movie. But I hear that’s not what it’s going to be.”

The filmmakers were refused permission to shoot in Westminster Abbey because the novel on which the film is based was “theologically unsound”; but Lincoln and Winchester cathedrals co-operated, as did the Temple Church in London and Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Scotland.

As for doubts about whether the film could shoot in the Louvre, these were resolved only when French President Jacques Chirac personally gave his stamp of approval. Even so, the Mona Lisa, which plays a key role in the story’s opening, was ruled off-limits and the film had to use a replica.

Howard and his crew shot for a week of nights in July, although conditions were less than ideal. “We had to be very specific about every single shot we were going to do, both for security and for preservation reasons,” said Howard. “There were all kinds of things we couldn’t do. In the script, there is blood on the floor but we couldn’t do that, and obviously we couldn’t take paintings off the walls.” The crew was also forbidden to shine direct light on the paintings.

“I think people relate to the story for personal reasons,” says Howard. “Some are interested in the mystery, some are interested in the spirituality and some are interested in the locations. I honestly think that a lot of people get a lot of different things out of it.”

©THE DAILY TELEGRAPH



Posted by Admin on 05/07 at 11:15 AM
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The code that’s set to break records

Issue Date: Sunday, May 07, 2006
The code that’s set to break records
After as many twists and turns as in The Da Vinci Code itself, Ron Howard’s adaptation of the worldwide bestseller hits cinema screens this month. The director talks to John Hiscock


It must be the nearest thing to a sure-fire hit that has ever come out of Hollywood. After filming on locations that included the Louvre and several English churches and cathedrals, the film version of The Da Vinci Code is now being edited in preparation for a worldwide release on May 19, when it is expected to break all box office records.

After all, author Dan Brown’s controversial, conspiracy-minded religious thriller has become a global industry — the book has already sold 50 million hardback copies, with close to five million paperback sales in the UK so far. It has inspired reverential bus tours, spawned critical documentaries, been denounced by the Vatican and, most recently, been the subject of a high-profile court case. The publicity all this attracted has been more than any studio marketing department could have dreamt of.

The court case, brought by two historians who accused Brown of plagiarising their non-fiction book to write The Da Vinci Code, threatened for a while to put the film’s release in doubt. But a judge at the high court vindicated Brown last month, saying that, while the author may have copied parts of the 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, it did not amount to a breach of copyright.

The publicity-shy Brown testified during the month-long trial, which was peppered with abstruse debate over the Merovingian monarchy, the Knights Templar and the bloodline of Jesus Christ, all of which feature in The Da Vinci Code.

But the court case is only one of the obstacles the film has had to overcome. Huge pressure was exerted on Sony, the studio making the film, from religious groups who wanted the film to differ from the novel, particularly in its inflammatory theory that for 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been covering up the fact that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered a daughter, whose bloodline has survived into present-day Europe.

The Catholic League and Opus Dei were among the groups petitioning for changes (and the latter is continuing to press for a disclaimer on the film itself), but the director Ron Howard has made it plain the film closely follows the book.

His goal, he says, was to duplicate the experience of reading the book, despite the fact that the book unfolds in real time over a day and the movie will run for about two- and-a-half hours. Certain things have been omitted, although nothing major has been changed.

“We used the novel as the basis for our movie,” says Howard, “and it is not a reinvention of the novel. It’s a screen adaptation of The Da Vinci Code.”

Howard, himself a fan of the book, had no intention of changing the storyline. “I’m very interested in the range of themes,” he said. “It’s intriguing on a lot of levels. It’s the kind of fiction that provokes thought and conversation and debate, and it did that for me when I read it. It’s quite unusual for a story to have that many ideas working in the same plot line, and I chose to make the film because I was intrigued by those ideas.”

For inspiration, Howard watched classic thrillers with spiritual elements, such as The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. He is once again working with his longtime producer Brian Grazer, with whom he made Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Ransom and Cinderella Man among others. Between them, their films have grossed billions of pounds and collected nine Oscars.

Although they usually develop their own projects, this time they were brought in by Sony, who had bought The Da Vinci Code as well as all future movie rights to the central Robert Langdon character, for a reported bargain price of £4 million.

Tom Hanks, who previously worked with Howard and Grazer on Apollo 13 and the romantic comedy Splash, stars as Langdon, the Harvard “symbology” professor who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery of biblical proportions.

Howard insists that friendship had nothing to do with the casting. Much of the action is cerebral, involving solving riddles, cracking codes and carrying out a Boolean key-word search at a London library.

“Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,” said Howard. “We probably don’t need his status from a box-office standpoint, but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy.”

The French actress Audrey Tautou was chosen as his co-star over three Oscar-winning actresses who reportedly lobbied mightily for the role. The cast also includes Ian McKellen as Sir Leigh Teabing, the former royal historian whose life’s passion is the Holy Grail; Alfred Molina as Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, the president-general of Opus Dei; Jean Reno as the deeply religious police captain Bezu Fache; and Paul Bettany as Silas, the murderous, self-flagellating albino Opus Dei monk.

“There’s something nice about being able to leave your sense of morality at the door when you come to work in the morning and just be cruel to people all day,” says Bettany. “It’s quite fun. In a lot of my scenes I’m on my own and I’d turn up for work and there’d be me and a crew and Ron Howard and it felt like a small, intimate, personal, independent movie. But I hear that’s not what it’s going to be.”

The filmmakers were refused permission to shoot in Westminster Abbey because the novel on which the film is based was “theologically unsound”; but Lincoln and Winchester cathedrals co-operated, as did the Temple Church in London and Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Scotland.

As for doubts about whether the film could shoot in the Louvre, these were resolved only when French President Jacques Chirac personally gave his stamp of approval. Even so, the Mona Lisa, which plays a key role in the story’s opening, was ruled off-limits and the film had to use a replica.

Howard and his crew shot for a week of nights in July, although conditions were less than ideal. “We had to be very specific about every single shot we were going to do, both for security and for preservation reasons,” said Howard. “There were all kinds of things we couldn’t do. In the script, there is blood on the floor but we couldn’t do that, and obviously we couldn’t take paintings off the walls.” The crew was also forbidden to shine direct light on the paintings.

“I think people relate to the story for personal reasons,” says Howard. “Some are interested in the mystery, some are interested in the spirituality and some are interested in the locations. I honestly think that a lot of people get a lot of different things out of it.”

©THE DAILY TELEGRAPH



Posted by Admin on 05/07 at 11:15 AM
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