Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is back. And so is director Ron Howard. In a change for the filmmaker, Angels & Demons marks the first time Howard has ever returned to chronicle the further adventures of a character.
"I never wanted to do that before, because I'm always interested in trying to create new territory," admits Howard. "And even though the character of Robert Langdon is again at the centre, Angels & Demons is so different from
The Da Vinci Code that it allows me to exercise a whole new set of cinematic muscles. It requires a different rhythm, another tempo, a different kind of drive. It is, literally, a ticking-time-bomb thriller, couched in a completely original mystery."
While it might be easy to see why Howard would return to the world created in Dan Brown's novels, most viewers wouldn't expect the Vatican to have the character of Robert Langdon on speed dial.
"The Vatican is under attack at its most vulnerable moment," continues Howard, "It is going through conclave, the time when Cardinals elect a new Pope. When they are under the threat of murder and a bomb, they call upon Robert Langdon, the only one who has the expertise and ability to cut through the mystery, understand the symbols, and try to avert this disaster. He is not the man the Vatican trusts - he is the man the Vatican needs."
"Langdon enters into Angels & Demons with an icy relationship with the Vatican because of the events of The Da Vinci Code," agrees
Tom Hanks, who reprises his role as Professor Langdon. "He has a great knowledge of the church's rituals and history but he is not necessarily a welcome person."
With much of the action taking place in and around the Vatican, production shifted to Rome for a month. The Angels & Demons crew filmed at such famous sites as Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona, Castel St. Angelo and the beautiful Baroque Santa Susanna church.
However, being such a popular destination for holidaymakers meant that everywhere the film crew went, they were followed by hundreds of curious tourists and locals. Not that the extra attention put the director off.
"Nothing fazes Ron," says Hanks, who has worked with the director three times before. "Certainly not shooting in front of the Pantheon in Rome with hundreds of tourists. He found small back alleys for scenes in the afternoons when it was hot and the crowds were intense but he was so focused that he hardly knew they were there."
At one point a wedding party appeared in the Piazza Della Rotonda as the crew was setting up for a shot. The couple were getting married near the Pantheon location and Tom Hanks took it upon himself to help the bride and her father navigate their way through the equipment, lights and cameras.
It wasn't only the tourists who managed to enjoy the architecture and experience Rome has to offer. With the rest of the shoot taking place at Sony's studios back in LA, the art department approached its research for sets and props the same way any tourist or student might - through books, the internet and a high-end digital camera. Staff from the various departments became part of the daily throng of backpack-wearing, guidebook toting visitors as they documented the sites. From that information, Allan Cameron's art department designed and built the replica sets so that walls could be removed or lights and equipment could be accommodated.
"When I design a set, obviously, I have to keep the camera moves in mind and just how the director might choreograph the action and blocking, so I tend to design a set around the script requirements rather than the reality of the place," reveals Cameron.
"For instance, the real Santa Maria Della Vittoria in Rome is quite small and the action that takes place there in the film is quite complex. Sal, our director of photography, and Ron wanted to use camera cranes in there, so we had to enlarge the aisles and enlarge the nave and make it slightly bigger than the real one just to accommodate the action."
The production created replicas of St. Peter's Square and Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Castel St. Angelo, as well as the frescoes, fountains and statues of Michelangelo and Bernini. In addition, the art team had the pleasure of recreating a version of the Sistine Chapel they could film in. Production designer Allan Cameron admits that while his creation remained as faithful to Michelangelo's masterpiece as it could, he did have to alter its palette slightly for cinematic purposes.
"All together, I think we reproduced about 20 of the paintings there, including Michelangelo's Last Judgment," Cameron recalls. "But I deliberately kept the colours of the Sistine Chapel slightly more sombre than they might be so Daniel Orlandi's costumes would really zing against them."