WHEN The Da Vinci Code was published back in 2003, it was so successful that only the latest book in the hugely-popular Harry Potter series kept it off the top spot.
Another two books — Angels and Demons and Inferno — followed and with Tom Hanks perfectly cast as the lead character Robert Langdon, the resulting film adaptations have been big hits.
With Inferno reaching cinemas this week, it must seem bittersweet for Tom, as he had so much fun filming on location, he’s missing those places.
“One of the special things about making these movies is that we get to go to extraordinary places and utilise them for what they really are,” says Tom.
“We’ve been to the Louvre to look at things.
“We’ve been to Rome in order to find places there.
“In this case, in Florence, we actually ran across the Ponte Vecchio because that was the way we had to get to the Hall of the Five Hundred, so that ends up being one of the greatest added bonuses, besides just having the job.
“It’s myself and Felicity Jones, who is a wonderful actress, and we had a lot of what I call ‘hairy scenes’ where there’s a lot going on.
“For about five hours, you have to be very focused, very intense and very ‘on’ every moment of these scenes.
“The dialogue is important, the story is important, but most important is the emotionality of it and it’s not easy to sustain.
“Luckily with Ron Howard directing, he keeps us going and keeps us focused.”
Tom admits that at times, he’d struggle with what was going on.
“Sometimes, my head was spinning by the time we were done at the end of the day,” says the actor, who’s 60.
“It takes these questions of faith and theology and blows them up in this macro focus so that we all — whether we believe it or not — end up having to address how we feel about things.
“With The Da Vinci Code, it was literally the divinity of the son of God.
“With Angels and Demons, it was what was the creation of the universe — was it at the hands of God or was it the Big Bang instead?
“These are all ‘highfalutin’ themes!
“Likewise, on Inferno, we’re talking about literally what happens in Hell and what does it feel like.
“And, in fact, there is a character who is going to recreate Dante’s version of Hell in the physical world as we know it.”
It all sounds a world away from another of Tom’s recurring roles, as Woody in the Toy Story franchise, and yet he says that it’s a very enjoyable experience on set.
He adds: “You start playing around with those kinds of theological questions — everybody has an opinion — and yet the root to the examination comes through these great kind of scavanger-hunt puzzle fests, running around trying to solve all these clues, which I think is undeniably fun.”
Inferno is in cinemas now.
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