Hanks Cracks The Code

If there's a book around at the moment that practically everyone you know has read, then it's Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Every fifth person on the tube can be seen immersed in a copy and half of them will go on to read the myriad books written about the book. In fact, were it not so entertaining, the ubiquitous paperback would probably be very annoying, creeping as it does into pub conversations, pillow talk and, very soon, cinemas as well. So, with the novel's lofty status in current pop literature undeniable, it's fitting that a suitably lofty actor has been nabbed to play the leading role. Falling back on a man who's served him well in the past, director Ron Howard has drafted Tom Hanks to play Harvard symbologist and conspiracy unraveller, Professor Robert Langdon. "Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking," Howard told Newsweek. "We probably don't need his status from a box-office standpoint but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy." Indeed he does and, we have to say, Hanks will should fill the tweed jacket and bookish charms of the novel's hero rather well. No idea what we're wittering on about about? Well, if you're one of the fifteen people worldwide who've yet to read the book, here's a brief summary: Picking up after Brown's first Langdon novel, Angels & Demons (also worth a look, if you've a few hours to spare), The Da Vinci Code sees the professor in Paris and called to the scene of a brutal murder at the Louvre. One dead curator is just the tip of the iceberg here though and Langdon soon finds himself in the company of cryptologist Sophie Neveu, both of them pursued by the French authorities as they follow clues to an ancient truth behind one of the most well-perpetuated lies on the planet: the legend of the holy grail and the true history of Jesus Christ. So nothing major, then. No other casting has yet been confirmed except that producer Brian Grazer is contemplating another bit of inspired casting, that of Jean Reno for the role of inspector Bezu Fache. And, in a shameless bit of cross-promotion, if you need any proof that anyone who's anyone has turned Dan Brown's many pages, take a look at our interview with Sarah Michelle Gellar, who confesses to being something of a fan herself.