Newsweek is reporting that Tom Hanks has nabbed the lead role in Ron Howard’s upcoming adaptation of The DaVinci Code, the international bestselling controversial novel by Dan Brown. Hanks will reunite with Howard after working on two previous films together: Splash and Apollo 13. The DaVinci Code will be produced by Howard and longtime producing partner Brian Grazer at Imagine Entertainment, and Sony/Columbia Pictures will release the eventual film.
“Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,” Howard tells General Editor Devin Gordon. “We probably don’t need his status from a box-office standpoint” — by now, The Da Vinci Code sells itself — “but he gives [Robert] Langdon instant legitimacy.”
Hanks will play the role of Robert Langdon, an academic scholar who unravels a series of clues hidden in the paintings of Leonardo DaVinci after a mysterious murder leads him to an even greater conspiracy that could ruin the Catholic church.
Howard and Grazer are taking their time casting “Da Vinci,” but plan to hire actual foreign actors to play the book’s foreign characters. “If there’s any book that’s supposed to be an international thriller, says Grazer, “this is it.” Grazer tells Newsweek that one recent Oscar winner inquired about the role of Parisian cryptologist Sophie Neveu, “and she could easily do it. But I think the audience would be let down a bit. They expect a French girl.” As for the role of bullish cop Bezu Fache, Gordon reports that Jean Reno is on Grazer’s short list.
Credit: Cinecon.com
