By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Was there any doubt that following the phenomenal success of Dan Brown's theological thriller The Da Vinci Code, Hollywood would come calling! The controversial tale of murder and intrigue lurking in the long dark halls of the Louvre Museum has left many a reader gasping for breath and desperate for more. More is on the way. The thrills that start on the very first page and never let up, leaving millions of readers twisting in the wind throughout, have kept the book on the New York Times, Amazon, and every other best-seller list for 86 weeks since March 2003, with no signs of abating. As sales of The Da Vinci Code soar, spirits of many Christian historians and scientists sag. Particularly dismayed by the author's depiction of Christian doctrines, several writers have published books disputing Brown's premise; but the shy 38 year-old former musician/teacher is not budging. He is busy writing a sequel to The Da Vinci Code due next year, while his three former books are selling briskly. Angels and Demons (2001) on the New York Times hard cover best-seller list, Digital Fortress (1998) and Deception Point (2001) also best-seller paperbacks. Why has The Da Vinci Code so penetrated the reader's interest and so completely engaged Christian historians? The Code disputes the very foundation of Christian doctrine claiming that not only was Jesus "not divine", but that he married Mary Magdalene, had a child with her and the bloodline survives in France. As for Christ's divinity, according to Brown, "it was hatched by the Roman emperor Constantine as a power play" and the church is accused of conspiring to hide the truth. The Roman Catholic Church wisely remains silent, leaving the strong protestations to Protestants. Sociologist and theorist Reverend Andrew Greeling is baffled by the number of educated people who "are apparently unable to distinguish between fantasy, fiction and history. All the attention to refute it is likely to sell more books." Even Jason Kaufman, Brown's long-time editor and friend sighs: "This is a novel based on an interesting idea. It is not a textbook!" More controversy is likely to occur with the film version of this unorthodox cult novel. Many are wondering how well it will fare on the big screen. Judging by the recent Harry Potter books- to-screen transformations, though all have been box-office blockbusters, the books retain a mystique that seems to resist celluloid interpretation. The Code could not have fallen into abler hands than the Oscar- winning duo, director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer. They both won Oscars for best film and best director for A Beautiful Mind (2001) Howard and partner/producer Grazer while working together on the fantasy film Splash, (1984) cast a virtually unknown actor, Tom Hanks, and made of him a star overnight. He was their only choice to play astronaut Jim Lovell in the blockbuster Apollo 13 (1995). Now they seek him out again to portray Robert Langdon, Harvard professor and symbologist, who is called upon to crack The Da Vinci Code amidst Europe's glamorous capitals. "We probably don't need his status from a box-office standpoint. By now The Da Vinci Code sells itself," says Howard. "If there's any book that is supposed to be an international thriller" gloats producer Grazer "this is it." The short list of contenders to portray super brain Robert Langdon was dazzling and inviting. Yet Hanks is not exactly professor material as is Harrison Ford, the author's first choice, and not quite as introspective as Liam Neeson or Jeremy Irons, two Brits who have often played Americans convincingly. Tom Hanks is far from being Mel Gibson, brave, strong, cosmopolitan, controversial as well as a heartthrob. Neither is he vigorous, versatile, vulnerable Russell Crowe either, the original Beautiful Mind who just finished Cinderella Man, both directed and produced by the same Howard/ Grazer team. Hanks is certainly no romantic lead as is George Clooney also on the short list of would-be code breakers. Moreover his last few movies did not break any records at the box-office, and the current Polar Express, just released for the holiday season, has received mixed reviews. So why did they decide on Tom Hanks? Often compared to James Stewart and Gary Cooper, Hanks is the quintessential American hero. He has carved for himself a special niche in the hearts of his generation that is everlasting. Born in Concorde, California, 1956, he is a direct descendant of President Abraham Lincoln on his mother's side. Perhaps that honourable trait of decency and fair play is his noble ancestor's legacy. When his parents divorced, their four children also split up. Tom and two older siblings went with their father Amos, a chef who travelled constantly, married twice more, leaving Tom, by age 10, with "three mothers, five grammar schools and 10 houses". The clan finally settled in Oakland, California where Tom's primary concern at high school became sports and acting. After two years of drama school at Chabot College, he transferred to California State University and graduated to semi- professional theatre, though not from university. In summer theatre he won the Cleveland Critics Circle Best Actor Award as Proteus in Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona. He married his college sweetheart Samantha and moved to New York City following the lure of Broadway's shimmering lights. But Broadway fame and fortune proved to be farther than he thought. He, Samantha and a new baby struggled to make ends meet. Hanks returned to Cleveland's Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival to play the clown Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. "He was the best Shakespearean clown I ever knew" said theatre director Vincent Dowling: "because he was seriously real, and seriously funny at the same time." That is the essence of Tom Hanks. After landing one of the leads in a new TV sitcom Bosom Buddies, cross- dressing as a girl named Buffy, he appeared in several TV hit shows, one of them Happy Days starring Ron Howard. Howard was planning to make a career change from actor to director. For his film Splash he called in Tom Hanks for a minor role but ended up giving him the lead. His visibility kept the parts coming, which kept the money coming and his family comfortable in a fine home in Sherman Oaks, a posh Los Angeles suburb. But all was not well inside that home. His career was blossoming but his marriage was waning. The couple broke up in 1985. The big break came with the film Big (1988) directed by Penny Marshall where Hanks at 33 played a 13 year-old boy trapped in the body of a man. Hanks was perfect. The film made $100 million and he was nominated for his first Oscar. Hanks's life was by now being transformed into "such stuff as dreams are made on". Marriage to actress Rita Wilson was made in heaven, so was the magical screen pairing with Meg Ryan, and a string of hits, 11 in 9 years, virtually unmatched in modern film history. In 1993 his stirringly poignant performance as a young lawyer who contracts AIDS in Philadelphia won him his first Oscar. A year later he received another unheard of back-to-back Oscar for playing the idiot savant Forrest Gump. Dame Fortune chose him for her mate. Besides being the "sweetest, gentlest, man" Hank's outstanding filmography has earned him the title of Hollywood royalty. He is everything to every man -- there is no role that seems beyond the magnitude of his talent. He is the good guy, the bad guy, the funny guy, the sad guy, "rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief". He has become the most bankable star of them all, except of course, for one other Tom -- Cruise, that is! Amid much hype and curiosity, it is no surprise that the wizard duo Howard and Grazer pick none other than Tom Hanks to play the lead in the most popular novel of the new millennium. "He gives Langdon instant legitimacy," explains Howard. " The Da Vinci Code is cerebral -- solving riddles -- cracking codes. Tom Hanks is an exciting actor to watch -- thinking." Who else in Hollywood can make that claim!
