"The Da Vinci Code" starts filming in Paris

Tom Hanks and the rest of the cast and crew of the upcoming movie "The Da Vinci Code" have started filming in Paris and are to take over the Louvre museum -- a key location --, the producers said. The 100-million-dollar (80-million-euro) film version of the US novel penned by Dan Brown is due out in May next year. It stars Hanks as its professorial hero Robert Langdon, who has to decipher a number of clues linked to historic works, including Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting, to crack a centuries-old secret protected by a mysterious and deadly sect. [More]

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First View of Bettany as 'Silas'?

Paul Bettany has been spotted recently with a platinum blonde hairstyle, complete with eyebrows. This apprears to be his look as Silas, the albino monk in The Da Vinci Code. This is from Hello Magazine: Paul Bettany made a dazzling impression on movie fans in the Big Apple this week when he took to the red carpet with a new hairstyle. The British actor sported a striking platinum blond look as he accompanied Oscar-winning wife Jennifer Connelly to the premiere of her latest flick. [More]

Ask Men Showcases Tautou

The folks at askmen.com have showcased Audrey Toutou in their 'actress of the week' segment. [More]

Wanted: help with Da Vinci Code effect

Historic Rosslyn Chapel is boosting its full-time staff to cope with a surge in visitors sparked by blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code. The mysterious 15th-century building is expected to attract more than 100,000 visitors this year - triple the 38,000 it drew two years ago. Officials at the church, which already has a dozen part-time and voluntary staff, want to recruit a full-time visitor services manager. The new role includes taking over the day-to-day running of the visitor attraction to allow the director to concentrate on the final phase of a £4 million construction project. [More]

Mike Hill ready for 'Da Vinci' grind

A pparently, it's possible to live in your hometown of Omaha, Neb., and be a film editor for a major director. "At least if you work for Ron Howard," said Mike Hill, who was in Des Moines earlier this week for a round of golf with his friend David Bradley. Now's the time for 18 holes because Hill's time off is nearly over. The 12-hour days start again on July 7, when he'll be working in London editing "The Da Vinci Code," which stars Tom Hanks and is based on Dan Brown's bestseller. [More]

Canadian readers believe Da Vinci Code

The book has been condemned by Christian church officials, delighted conspiracy theorists and spawned a global pop culture phenomenon, writes Paul Gessell. Almost two million Canadians who read the mega-selling book, The Da Vinci Code, ended the novel convinced that Jesus Christ fathered a line of descendants on Earth, a new survey suggests. [More]

Bettany As The Joker?

From cinematical.com: Paul Bettany has emerged as a surprise contender for the role of The Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins. An insider told Batman-On-Film that his current competition looks to be Lachy Hulme and Crispin Glover, but not however, Mark Hammil. The source says Warner Bros believes the actor, who voiced Joker in the animated series, is "told old" for the role. In the next Batman film, the Dark Knight and Harvey Dent (rumored to be played by Liev Schreiber) take on the Joker. Bettany starred in such films as A Beautiful Mind, Dogville, and Wimbledon. He's also the lucky guy married to Jennifer Connelly.

McKellen Heads Europride parade in Oslo

Norwulf writes: Ian McKellen is guest of honour in tomorrow's big Europride parade in Oslo, and will ride the streets ahead of the festivities in a cabriolet. He has been participating in a seminar as part of The 15th Oslo gay & lesbian Film Festival last week. I tried to find you a good english-language link, but can only suggest europride.no. After tomorrow they will in all probability post pictures.

‘Da Vinci Code’ author is 12th on Forbes list

PORTSMOUTH - You’re compiling a list of the most powerful celebrities in the world. Where do you rank a man who wrote a book that has outsold nearly everything short of the Bible? Forbes Magazine says 12th. In its annual list of the 100 most powerful celebrities, the magazine decided to place Rye’s Dan Brown ahead of the likes of David Letterman, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan and Will Ferrell. [More]

Alfred Molina Joins Annette Bening for Los Angeles The Cherry Orchard

Alfred Molina — who recently wandered about the forest of birch trees in the new Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof — will join Annette Bening in the surroundings of The Cherry Orchard for the upcoming Los Angeles staging. Sean Mathias (Indiscretions, The Elephant Man) directs Anton Chekhov's classic drama which begins Feb. 2, 2006 at the Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper Forum for a run through March 29. [More]

Cracking the 'Code'

Publishers aim for 'Da Vinci ' success with wannabe titles

With more than 7 million copies in print and a buzz that won't stop, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is the king of the blockbusters, a book so big, it has yet to come out in paperback after two years in print. No wonder publishers are scrambling to find heirs to the throne. This summer, at least four books look to be direct knockoffs of the Da Vinci formula, (although one, The Historian, has been in the works long before Da Vinci hit it big). They feature murder, mysterious occurrences, forays into history and, in some cases, strange codes. Do any of them have the word "blockbuster" in their future? Today, our critics unravel that mystery for you. [More]

New clues in search for missing da Vinci fresco

A lost Leonardo fresco and tantalizing hints that remnants may still exist — hidden behind a wall in a Florence palazzo — has the art world abuzz. NBC News correspondent Keith Miller has more on the real life Leonardo da Vinci mystery. For 30 years, art work detective Maurizio Seracini has been searching for Leonardo da Vinci's lost fresco. And now Seracini has found a breakthrough in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. A small cavity in a wall may hold the key to a long lost secret, he says. [More]

The secrets of Kryptos and a code to break

WASHINGTON: It is one of the world's most baffling puzzles, the bane of professional cryptologists and amateur sleuths who have spent 15 years trying to solve it. But the race to find the secrets of Kryptos, a sculpture inside a courtyard at the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) heavily guarded headquarters in Langley, Virginia, may be reaching a climax. And interest has soared since Dan Brown hid references to Kryptos on the cover design for his best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, and suggested it might play a role in his next novel, The Solomon Key. [More]

Historians to unlock the secrets of the Da Vinci Code at the Fringe

Expert historians are set to explore the truth behind Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code at this year's Fringe. In Edinburgh Art College's Wee Red Bar, authors Simon Cox, Mark Oxbrow and Ian Robertson will present Rosslyn, The Grail and Cracking the Da Vinci Code. The trio promise to reveal the "startling truth" behind Rosslyn Chapel and its link with the Holy Grail, unveiling the "secrets behind the mysteries". [More]

From Bridlington to Hollywood

Shane Zaza, 21, is about to launch his movie career after landing a part in the film version of the smash hit novel The Da Vinci Code. The former Headlands School pupil has just appeared in Players at West Yorkshire Playhouse and will now move to Leeds in preparation for his forthcoming role, in which he will be starring alongside Tom Hanks (pictured below right in his Oscar-winning Forrest Gump role) and Amelie star Audrey Tautou. [More]

New lead in hunt for lost Leonardo

Hopes of finding a long-lost work by Leonardo da Vinci have been fired by the discovery of a tiny cavity in a wall in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Maurizio Seracini, a world-renowned expert in the use of advanced technology to investigate artworks, said he had found a hollow space behind Giorgio Vasari's fresco, the Battle of Marciano. He said he believed the gap had been "created by Vasari himself to protect Leonardo's masterpiece". [More]

Cryptex Gifts Become Popular

MEQUON, Wis., June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The release of a movie trailer by Sony Pictures for "The Da Vinci Code" has generated increased demand for the recently introduced Encrypta cryptex. Carlos de la Huerga, one of the creators of the Encrypta cryptex, said, "We believe the extraordinary interest in our cryptex is due to the popularity of 'The Da Vinci Code,' the best-selling novel by Dan Brown in which a cryptex plays a major role. Now, with Sony's recent announcement that a movie based on the book will be launched on May 19, 2006, and with the release of the movie's trailer, we're seeing sales of our cryptex growing rapidly." [More]

Early Da Vinci Code trailer has hidden messages

HOLLYWOOD -- Not a single foot of film has been shot, the movie doesn't open for a year and a few critics already are denouncing it, but The Da Vinci Code nevertheless has made its multiplex debut. Sony Pictures, the studio behind the upcoming Ron Howard-directed adaptation of Dan Brown's mammoth best-selling novel, has released a short Da Vinci Code trailer, which has been playing in a number of theaters just before Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. [More]

Connelly Comments on Bettany

Jennifer Connelly was quoted at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, she called it "appropriate" that her husband, Paul Bettany, will play the part of an evil albino in The Da Vinci Code movie. "He is kind of a shocking shade of pale," she said. "I suppose someday he could get enough freckles that they connect into a tan." [More]

At last, something hotter than Potter

It's as official as it's ever going to be: Harry Potter is out and Robert Langdon is in. For the first time in nearly a decade, Harry does not monopolise the top spots in the annual bestseller lists from the Australian Publishers Association. The young English wizard has been replaced by the middle-aged American symbologist, hero of Dan Brown's novels The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. [More]

Brown's 'Code' Second Most Popular Book: Maclean's Magazine

Canada's Maclean's Magazine has named 'The Da Vinci Code' the second most popular fiction book in Canada, 'Code' lost out only to 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Among other books named in the list are; 'Saturday' (Ian McEwan), 'The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loanna' (Umberto Eco) & 'Three Day Road' (Joseph Boyden). [More]

New Donmar Season to Feature McKellen

The Donmar Warehouse has announced details of its forthcoming season. Many of the productions had previously been reported, although new news includes the premiere of a Mark Ravenhill play starring Ian McKellen. As has been known for some time, Neil LaBute’s This Is How It Goes will be followed by Schiller’s Mary Stuart (in a new version by Peter Oswald) beginning July 14 and featuring Janet McTeer, Harriet Walter, David Burke, James Fleet, Barbara Jefford and Rory Kinnear. Phyllida Lloyd will direct. [More]

'The Da Vinci Code' - book banned, what will happen to the movie?

BEIRUT: Worried that you can't buy a copy of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" in Beirut? Don't be. Just hop on a plane to the United Arab Emirates (or almost any other foreign port) and buy it at Dubai International Airport where the book is available in Arabic and English. Then merely bring it back on your return. [More]

Ron Howard Voted no.33 in Empire Mag's top 40 Directors

The combination of a killer shark, a waddling alien and a story of humanity in the midst of the Holocaust has driven film buffs to crown Steven Spielberg as cinema’s greatest director. Spielberg, who burst into the mainstream of film with Jaws in 1975, beat Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese in a poll of 10,000 readers of Empire magazine. Ron Howard was named number 33. [More]