After phenomenal sales of Dan Brown's novel, it was no surprise that Ron Howard's take on The Da Vinci Code was an instant blockbuster. However the controversial story, which sees Tom Hanks unravel an alleged conspiracy perpetrated by the Vatican, sparked demonstrations in some countries. For critics though, it was the "po-faced" storytelling that warranted a public lashing.
Preaching To The Choir
Between clips of behind-the-scenes footage, there is an ungodly amount of waffle on the bonus disc. By way of introduction, Howard invites us into the Louvre on the first day of filming and chats briefly about his aims and intentions. But there is no in-depth discussion about the theories at the heart of Brown's book and certainly no one wants to make a plain statement on the veracity of his findings - least of all the author. In a five-minute Discussion With Dan Brown, he says only that he was "fascinated with the idea of hidden history..."
Hanks admits to being "flummoxed" on his initial reading of the book, but the featurette A Portrait Of Langdon is mostly a chance for Howard to explain why he thought Hanks was a good fit for the role of the inquisitive professor. Similarly, we get a flattering close up of Audrey Tautou (and just a glimpse of her audition) in Who Is Sophie Neveau? Then Howard waxes lyrical on supporting players like Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Ian McKellen in the Unusual Suspects.
A Filmmakers Journey is presented in two parts (around 40 mins), but again the focus is largely on casting. This time we hear about the physical metamorphosis that for Hanks involved growing his hair. Howard assures us the ladies love it, but wasn't so enamoured with the sight of Paul Bettany in sandals. (Apparently this footwear just didn't convey the menace the director wanted.) The second half shows us a little of the day-to-day business of shooting. Everyone comments on how fastidious Howard is, Bettany revealing that Howard would often call him in the middle of the night with notes on the next day's scene. We can only imagine what those chats were about - 'What about a pair of Dr Martens, Paul?'
Mapping The Pilgrim's Journey
Magical Places takes us on a whistle-stop tour from Paris to England. Howard reveals how a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac helped to cut through the usual red tape and enable access to the Louvre while in London it was the hoards of onlookers who threatened to delay shooting. That is until Howard came up with the idea of using them as extras. We advise those people to send an invoice to Ron Howard c/o Imagine Entertainment, Hollywood...
Just in case the film wasn't dense enough, Howard reveals that he threaded it with his own sequence of symbols in The Codes Of The Da Vinci Code. For instance, squint really hard and you'll see that the air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror of Lt Collet's (Etienne Chicot) car is shaped like the angel Gabriel. (But presumably smells of pine trees.) Elsewhere the eponymous Mr Da Vinci gets a grudging nod in Close-up On Mona Lisa, ie cast and crew moaning about how "small" the painting is. Charming.
Winding things up are a few soundbites from Hans Zimmer on the score. Three minutes is just long enough for him to confess how challenging it was to write music that reflects the excitement of Langdon "thinking". If only Zimmer could come up with something to get us more excited about this wishy-washy DVD...
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