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Angels and Demons (film)
Encyclopedia
Angels & Demons is a 2009 American mystery
-thriller film directed by Ron Howard
and based on Dan Brown
's novel by the same name. It is the Interquel or third film, although the book was published first in series chronology. Filming of Angels & Demons took place in Rome
, Italy
, and the Sony Pictures Studios
in Culver City
, California
. Tom Hanks
reprises the lead role of Robert Langdon
, while producer Brian Grazer
, composer Hans Zimmer
and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
also return.
) initiates the Large Hadron Collider
and creates, in three vials
, suspended antimatter
particles larger than any that have ever been detected before. Immediately afterward, Father Silvano is killed and a vial is missing.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church
mourns the sudden death of the Pope
in Rome
. Vatican City
prepares for the papal conclave
which will elect the next Pope. Camerlengo Patrick McKenna assumes temporary control of the Vatican while thousands pour into Saint Peter's Square
, waiting for a successful vote. The Illuminati
kidnap the 'preferiti' (the four most likely cardinals to be elected pope
) before the conclave enters seclusion. They threaten to kill one candidate every hour and then destroy the Vatican in a burst of light at midnight. A stolen security camera
shows the missing antimatter vial, which will catastrophically explode when the vial's battery
dies and the magnetic containment field
fails.
The Vatican summons symbologist Robert Langdon
from Harvard University
and Vittoria Vetra from CERN to help them solve the Illuminati's threat, save the four preferiti, and locate the vial. Langdon listens to the Illuminati message and deduces that the four cardinals
will die at the four altars of the "Path of Illumination." However, no one knows where these altars are located.
Vetra has Father Silvano's diaries sent from Switzerland
, hoping they will reveal with whom Silvano discussed the antimatter experiment. Langdon is granted access to the Vatican Secret Archives
to examine Galileo Galilei
's banned book
. Clues in the book lead Langdon, Vetra, Inspector General
Ernesto Olivetti, and Lieutenant Valenti of the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps
to the first church, (Chigi Chapel
in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo
). There they find Cardinal Ebner dead, suffocated with dirt and branded with an ambigrammatic word "Earth
".
They verify the second altar's location (Saint Peter's Square
) but although this time they arrive on time, they are unable to save Cardinal Lamassé, his lungs punctured and his body branded with an ambigrammatic word, "Air
". While Vetra studies Silvano's diaries, Langdon and the Vatican officers locate the third church (Santa Maria della Vittoria
), but are unable to save Cardinal Guidera from being burned to death. His body is branded with an ambigrammatic word, "Fire
". The assassin appears and brutally kills everyone, including Inspector General Olivetti, except Langdon, who escapes.
Langdon and two Carabinieri
officers race to the Water
altar, but the assassin murders the officers as they investigate a suspicious van, where he proceeds to hide their bodies. Langdon sees the assassin drop the bound and weighted Cardinal Baggia into the Fountain of the Four Rivers
. Langdon, assisted by bystanders, saves the cardinal, who tells him the Illuminati's lair is Castel Sant'Angelo
. Carabinieri
, Vatican Gendarmerie, and Swiss Guard officers converge on the location, but it appears to be a dead end. However, Langdon and Vetra discover a hidden passageway leading to the Vatican. Inside, they discover a branding iron with two crossed keys, the Papal symbol. Realizing the brand is meant for the camerlengo, they are confronted by the assassin before they can alert McKenna. The assassin spares their lives because he was not contracted to kill them and because they are unarmed, then cryptically warns them that his contractors were "men of God". He escapes, but is killed when his waiting car explodes
.
Inside the Vatican, Langdon, Vitto find Commander Richter hovering over McKenna with a gun, the Vatican symbol branded into McKenna's chest. McKenna shouts for help, and Richter is shot by the Guards. The dying commander hands Langdon a key. The stolen antimatter vial is found, but the battery is about to expire, threatening the lives of all present outside the Vatican. McKenna, a former military pilot, seizes the vial and uses an awaiting helicopter to fly above the Vatican. At a high altitude, he parachutes out as the bomb explodes overhead. McKenna is hailed a hero and savior, and the cardinals move to elect him pope.
Meanwhile, Langdon and Vetra use Richter's key to watch a security video showing that McKenna, not the Illuminati, murdered the pope and he is the mastermind behind the entire plot, intending to become the new pope and suppress scientific interpretation regarding religious matters. This is shown to the Papal enclave and when McKenna discovers his plot has been exposed, he fatally sets himself on fire
.
The Vatican officially announces that McKenna died due to internal injuries suffered during his parachute landing and that he will be canonized
for his self-sacrifice. Cardinal Baggia is named the new Pope (who takes the name
Pope Luke I), and Cardinal Strauss is the new camerlengo. Camerlengo Strauss thanks Robert Langdon for saving the Vatican and the new Pope. In gratitude, he gives Langdon Galileo's "Diagramma Veritas" for his research, requesting only that Langdon's will contain a bequest that it be returned to the Vatican, and that any future references he makes to the Catholic Church in his future publications are done "gently". The movie closes with the newly enthroned pope stepping out on his balcony for the first time, to the cheers of the crowd below.
in a deal with author Dan Brown
. In May 2006, following the film release of the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code
, Sony hired screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
, who wrote the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, to adapt Angels & Demons. Filming was originally to begin in February 2008 for a December 2008 release, but because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
, production was pushed back for a May 15, 2009 release. David Koepp
rewrote the script before shooting began.
Director Ron Howard
chose to treat Angels & Demons as a sequel to the previous film, rather than a prequel, since many had read the novel after The Da Vinci Code. He liked the idea that Langdon had been through one adventure and become a more confident character. Howard was also more comfortable taking liberties in adapting the story because the novel is less popular than The Da Vinci Code. Producer Brian Grazer
said they were too "reverential" when adapting The Da Vinci Code, which resulted in it being "a little long and stagey." This time, "Langdon doesn't stop and give a speech. When he speaks, he's in motion." Howard concurred "it's very much about modernity clashing with antiquity and technology vs. faith, so these themes, these ideas are much more active whereas the other one lived so much in the past. The tones are just innately so different between the two stories."
of Pope Benedict XVI
, this was judged to be out of date, and the level of public and press interest is shown as much higher in the film. Moreover, a number of key characters are omitted or merged with each other; including Vittoria's father Leonardo (whose murder sparks the events of the book). Cardinal Baggia, the cardinal accepted to become Pope is saved in the film, then reveals Illuminati's hiding place to Langdon (Langdon's deduction of the location is one of the highlights of the novel) and is subsequently elected, whereas in the novel the Dean of the College Mortati (Strauss in the film) is ultimately chosen after the Camerlengo's downfall and death. Langdon and Vittoria do not finish the killer off at Castel Sant'Angelo after Vittoria is kidnapped by the assassin and subsequently rescued by Langdon in the movie, and the relationship which subsequently emerges is omitted as well. In the film, the Camerlengo alone, takes the canister of antimatter into the helicopter and then parachutes from it, while Langdon is with Vittoria in St. Peter's Square. In the book, however, both the Camerlengo and Langdon fly up in the helicopter, with the Camerlengo parachuting and Langdon using a piece of the helicopter window as a parachute to descend into the Tiber River. In the book the Camerlengo is chosen pope by 'election by adoration', something which is only considered in the movie. The Camerlengo's death scene is also different, whereas he chooses to set himself aflame in the book instead of seeing it as his only way out. Finally, the last iron which is bestowed indefinitely to Langdon at the end of the book (and is a combination of the four elements as an ambigram, not the Vatican Seal upside-down) is replaced by Galileo's Diagramma della Verita in the film. The Camerlengo's backstory concerning his birth is also omitted in the film.
under the fake working title Obelisk. The filmmakers scheduled three weeks of exterior location filming because of a predicted 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike
on June 30. The rest of the film would be shot at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, to allow for this halt. Roman Catholic Church
officials found The Da Vinci Code offensive and forbade filming in their churches, so these scenes were shot at Sony. The Caserta Palace
doubled for the inside of the Vatican, and the Biblioteca Angelica
was used for the Vatican Library
. Filming took place at the University of California, Los Angeles
in July. Sony and Imagine Entertainment
organized an eco-friendly shoot, selecting when to shoot locations based on how much time and fuel it would save, using cargo containers to support set walls or greenscreens
, as well as storing props for future productions or donating them to charity.
Howard hated that the Writers Guild strike forced him to delay shooting the film until summer. However, the quick shoot allowed him to refine the naturalism
he had employed on his previous film Frost/Nixon
, often using handheld cameras to lend an additional energy to the scenes.
Hanks interrupted filming of one scene in order to help Australian bride Natalia Dearnley get through the crowds to her wedding on time. McGregor said the Pope's funeral was the dullest sequence to film, as they were just walking across staircases. Then, "Someone started singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody
' [and] it became the funeral theme tune."
When recreating the interior of St. Peter's Basilica
, production designer Allan Cameron and visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton recognized the 80 feet tall soundstages were only half the size of the real church. They rebuilt the area around and the crypts beneath St. Peter's baldachin
, including the bottoms of the columns and Saint Peter
's statue, and surrounded it with a 360 degree greenscreen so the rest could be built digitally. Cameron had twenty crew members photograph as much as they could inside the Sistine Chapel
, and had artists sketch, photograph and enlarge recreations of the paintings and mosaics from the photographs. Cameron chose to present the Sistine Chapel as it was before it was cleaned up
, because he preferred the contrast the smoky, muted colors would present with the cardinals. Although the chapel was built to full size, the Sala Regia
was made smaller to fit inside the stage.
The Saint Peter's Square
and the Piazza Navona
sets were built on the same backlot
; after completion of scenes at the former, six weeks were spent converting the set, knocking down the Basilica side and excavating 3½ feet of tarmac to build the fountain. As there had been filming at the real Piazza Navona, the transition between it and the replica had to be seamless. To present the Santa Maria del Popolo
undergoing renovation, a police station in Rome opposite the real church was used for the exterior; the scaffolding would hide that it was not the church. Cameron built the interior of Santa Maria del Popolo on the same set as the recreated Santa Maria della Vittoria
to save money; the scaffolding also disguised this. The film's version of Santa Maria della Vittoria was larger than the real one, so it would accommodate the cranes used to film the scene. To film the Pantheon's
interior, two aedicula
e and the tomb of Raphael
were rebuilt to scale at a height of 30 feet, while the rest was greenscreen. Because of the building's symmetrical layout, the filmmakers were able to shoot the whole scene over two days and redress
the real side to pretend it was another. The second unit
took photographs of the Large Hadron Collider
and pasted these in scenes set at CERN
.
Hans Zimmer
returned to compose the score for the sequel. He chose to develop the "Chevaliers de Sangreal" track from the end of The Da Vinci Code as Langdon's main theme in the film. The soundtrack also features violinist Joshua Bell
.
was released on November 24, 2009 in several countries as a theatrical version and extended cut.
The extended cut includes violent scenes which had been cut out to secure a PG-13 rating. In the UK, the already censored US theatrical version had to be censored further in order to obtain a BBFC 12 rating. The Blu-ray includes the original theatrical version and is classified BBFC 15.
interviewed a priest working in Santa Susanna
, who stated the Church did not want their churches to be associated with scenes of murder. A tour guide also stated most priests do not object to tourists who visit out of interest after reading the book, a trend which will continue after people see the film. "I think they are aware that it's, you know, a work of fiction and that it's bringing people into their churches." Grazer deemed it odd that although The Da Vinci Code was a more controversial novel, they had more freedom shooting its film adaptation in London and France. Italian authorities hoped the filmmakers corrected the location errors in the novel, to limit the amount of explaining they will have to do for confused tourists.
William A. Donohue
, president of the Catholic League
, has not called for a boycott, but has requested that Catholics inform others about anti-Catholic sentiments in the story. "My goal... is to give the public a big FYI: Enjoy the movie, but know that it is a fable. It is based on malicious myths, intentionally advanced by Brown-Howard." A Sony executive responded they were disappointed Donohue had not created attention for the film closer to its release date. Howard criticized Donohue for prejudging the film, responding it could not be called anti-Catholic since Langdon protects the Church, and because of its depiction of priests who support science.
The official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano
has called the film "harmless entertainment", giving it a positive review and acknowledging that "the theme is always the same: a sect versus the Church, [but] this time, the Church is on the side of the good guys." Beforehand, it had stated it would not approve the film, while La Stampa
reported the Vatican would boycott it. However, it also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis
as saying a boycott would probably just have the "boomerang effect
" of drawing more attention to Angels & Demons and make it more popular.
, the film was banned by principal film censor Lei'ataua Olo'apu. Olo'apu stated that he was banning the film because it was "critical of the Catholic Church" and so as to "avoid any religious discrimination by other denominations and faiths against the Church." The Samoa Observer remarked that Olo'apu himself is Catholic. Samoan society is, in the words of a BBC News
article, "deeply conservative and devoutly Christian." The Censorship Board had previously banned the film The Da Vinci Code, for being "contradictory to Christian beliefs."
labeled the film "rotten", reporting that only 36% of 237 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's general consensus is that "Angels and Demons is a fast-paced thrill ride, and an improvement on the last Dan Brown adaptation, but the storyline too often wavers between implausible and ridiculous, and does not translate effectively to the big screen." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" demographic, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 32% based on 38 reviews. Metacritic
has a rating score of 48 out of 100 based on 36 reviews.
Richard Corliss of Time magazine
gave the film a positive review stating that "Angels & Demons has elemental satisfactions in its blend of movie genre that could appeal to wide segments of the audience." Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
awarded the film with 3 stars praising Howard's direction as an "even-handed job of balancing the scales" and claiming "[the film] promises to entertain." The Christian Science Monitor
gave the film a positive review claiming the movie is "an OK action film
." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a 2.5/4 stars claiming "the movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
gave the movie a mixed review claiming the film "manages to keep you partially engaged even at its most esoteric or absurd."
Neil Smith from Total Film
gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying: "some of the author's crazier embellishments are jettisoned in a film that atones for The Da Vinci Code's cardinal sin — thou shalt not bore." Kim Newman
awarded it 3 out of 5 stars, stating: "every supporting character acts like an unhelpful idiot to keep the plot stirring, while yet again a seemingly all-powerful conspiracy seems to consist of two whole evil guys."
which opened at #2. The Da Vinci Code had opened domestically to $77.1 million, but the sequel's opening met Columbia Pictures' $40–50 million prediction, since the film's source material was not as popular as its predecessor's. Within more than a month, the film grossed $478,869,160 worldwide, making it the largest grossing film of 2009 until it was surpassed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
. Of this $478 million, just over 27% of it is from domestic venues, giving the film unusually high worldwide totals, with over $30 million in the UK, $21 million in Spain, $13 million in Brazil, $13 million in Russia, $34 million in Japan and $47 million in Germany. Angels & Demons was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2009, with box-office figures of $485,930,810 worldwide.It received good response in metro cities of India
like Pune
, Mumbai
.
Mystery film
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...
-thriller film directed by Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
and based on Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
's novel by the same name. It is the Interquel or third film, although the book was published first in series chronology. Filming of Angels & Demons took place in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and the Sony Pictures Studios
Sony Pictures Studios
The Sony Pictures Studios are a television and film studio complex located in Culver City, California at 10202 West Washington Boulevard and bounded by Culver Boulevard , Washington Boulevard , Overland Avenue and Madison Avenue...
in Culver City
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
reprises the lead role of Robert Langdon
Robert Langdon
Robert Langdon is a fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology The character was created by author Dan Brown for...
, while producer Brian Grazer
Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
, composer Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
also return.
Plot
Under the watchful eyes of Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERNCERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
) initiates the Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
and creates, in three vials
Penning trap
Penning traps are devices for the storage of charged particles using a homogeneous static magnetic field and a spatially inhomogeneous static electric field. This kind of trap is particularly well suited to precision measurements of properties of ions and stable subatomic particles which have...
, suspended antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
particles larger than any that have ever been detected before. Immediately afterward, Father Silvano is killed and a vial is missing.
Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
mourns the sudden death of the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
prepares for the papal conclave
Papal conclave
A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a Bishop of Rome, who then becomes the Pope during a period of vacancy in the papal office. The Pope is considered by Roman Catholics to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and earthly head of the Roman Catholic Church...
which will elect the next Pope. Camerlengo Patrick McKenna assumes temporary control of the Vatican while thousands pour into Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...
, waiting for a successful vote. The Illuminati
Illuminati
The Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
kidnap the 'preferiti' (the four most likely cardinals to be elected pope
Papabile
Papabile is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe a cardinal of whom it is thought likely or possible that he will be elected pope. A literal English translation would be "popeable" or "one who might become pope".In...
) before the conclave enters seclusion. They threaten to kill one candidate every hour and then destroy the Vatican in a burst of light at midnight. A stolen security camera
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
shows the missing antimatter vial, which will catastrophically explode when the vial's battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
dies and the magnetic containment field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
fails.
The Vatican summons symbologist Robert Langdon
Robert Langdon
Robert Langdon is a fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology The character was created by author Dan Brown for...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Vittoria Vetra from CERN to help them solve the Illuminati's threat, save the four preferiti, and locate the vial. Langdon listens to the Illuminati message and deduces that the four cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
will die at the four altars of the "Path of Illumination." However, no one knows where these altars are located.
Vetra has Father Silvano's diaries sent from Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, hoping they will reveal with whom Silvano discussed the antimatter experiment. Langdon is granted access to the Vatican Secret Archives
Vatican Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...
to examine Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
's banned book
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems was a 1632 Italian language book by Galileo Galilei comparing the Copernican system with the traditional Ptolemaic system. It was translated to Latin as Systema cosmicum in 1635 by Matthias Bernegger...
. Clues in the book lead Langdon, Vetra, Inspector General
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
Ernesto Olivetti, and Lieutenant Valenti of the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps
Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City
The Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano is the gendarmerie, or police and security force, of Vatican City. The corps is responsible for security, public order, border control, traffic control, criminal investigation, and other general police duties in Vatican City...
to the first church, (Chigi Chapel
Chigi Chapel
The Chigi Chapel is one of six chapels in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Piazza del Popolo, Rome. The Chigi chapel, the second on the left-hand side of the nave, was designed by Raphael as a private chapel for his friend and patron Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, then completed by Gian...
in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo is an Augustinian church located in Rome, Italy.It stands to the north side of the Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The Piazza is situated between the ancient Porta Flaminia and the park of the Pincio...
). There they find Cardinal Ebner dead, suffocated with dirt and branded with an ambigrammatic word "Earth
Earth (classical element)
Earth, home and origin of humanity, has often been worshipped in its own right with its own unique spiritual tradition.-European tradition:Earth is one of the four classical elements in ancient Greek philosophy and science. It was commonly associated with qualities of heaviness, matter and the...
".
They verify the second altar's location (Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...
) but although this time they arrive on time, they are unable to save Cardinal Lamassé, his lungs punctured and his body branded with an ambigrammatic word, "Air
Air (classical element)
Air is often seen as a universal power or pure substance. Its supposed fundamental importance to life can be seen in words such as aspire, inspire, perspire and spirit, all derived from the Latin spirare.-Greek and Roman tradition:...
". While Vetra studies Silvano's diaries, Langdon and the Vatican officers locate the third church (Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria della Vittoria is a roman catholic titular church and minor basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome, Italy. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Cornaro Chapel, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa....
), but are unable to save Cardinal Guidera from being burned to death. His body is branded with an ambigrammatic word, "Fire
Fire (classical element)
Fire has been an important part of all cultures and religions from pre-history to modern day and was vital to the development of civilization. It has been regarded in many different contexts throughout history, but especially as a metaphysical constant of the world.-Greek and Roman tradition:Fire...
". The assassin appears and brutally kills everyone, including Inspector General Olivetti, except Langdon, who escapes.
Langdon and two Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
officers race to the Water
Water (classical element)
Water is one of the elements in ancient Greek philosophy, in the Asian Indian system Panchamahabhuta, and in the Chinese cosmological and physiological system Wu Xing...
altar, but the assassin murders the officers as they investigate a suspicious van, where he proceeds to hide their bodies. Langdon sees the assassin drop the bound and weighted Cardinal Baggia into the Fountain of the Four Rivers
Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi
The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or "Fountain of the Four Rivers" is a fountain in Rome, Italy, located in the urban square of the Piazza Navona...
. Langdon, assisted by bystanders, saves the cardinal, who tells him the Illuminati's lair is Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
. Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
, Vatican Gendarmerie, and Swiss Guard officers converge on the location, but it appears to be a dead end. However, Langdon and Vetra discover a hidden passageway leading to the Vatican. Inside, they discover a branding iron with two crossed keys, the Papal symbol. Realizing the brand is meant for the camerlengo, they are confronted by the assassin before they can alert McKenna. The assassin spares their lives because he was not contracted to kill them and because they are unarmed, then cryptically warns them that his contractors were "men of God". He escapes, but is killed when his waiting car explodes
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
.
Inside the Vatican, Langdon, Vitto find Commander Richter hovering over McKenna with a gun, the Vatican symbol branded into McKenna's chest. McKenna shouts for help, and Richter is shot by the Guards. The dying commander hands Langdon a key. The stolen antimatter vial is found, but the battery is about to expire, threatening the lives of all present outside the Vatican. McKenna, a former military pilot, seizes the vial and uses an awaiting helicopter to fly above the Vatican. At a high altitude, he parachutes out as the bomb explodes overhead. McKenna is hailed a hero and savior, and the cardinals move to elect him pope.
Meanwhile, Langdon and Vetra use Richter's key to watch a security video showing that McKenna, not the Illuminati, murdered the pope and he is the mastermind behind the entire plot, intending to become the new pope and suppress scientific interpretation regarding religious matters. This is shown to the Papal enclave and when McKenna discovers his plot has been exposed, he fatally sets himself on fire
Self-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
.
The Vatican officially announces that McKenna died due to internal injuries suffered during his parachute landing and that he will be canonized
Canonization
Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint, upon which declaration the person is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints. Originally, individuals were recognized as saints without any formal process...
for his self-sacrifice. Cardinal Baggia is named the new Pope (who takes the name
Papal name
A papal name is a regnal name taken by popes. Beginning in the sixth century, some popes adopted a new name upon their accession to the papacy; this became customary in the 10th century, and every pope since the 16th century has done so.-History:...
Pope Luke I), and Cardinal Strauss is the new camerlengo. Camerlengo Strauss thanks Robert Langdon for saving the Vatican and the new Pope. In gratitude, he gives Langdon Galileo's "Diagramma Veritas" for his research, requesting only that Langdon's will contain a bequest that it be returned to the Vatican, and that any future references he makes to the Catholic Church in his future publications are done "gently". The movie closes with the newly enthroned pope stepping out on his balcony for the first time, to the cheers of the crowd below.
Cast
- Tom HanksTom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
reprises his role as Robert LangdonRobert LangdonRobert Langdon is a fictional Harvard University professor of religious iconology and symbology The character was created by author Dan Brown for...
, a Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
professor of symbologySymbologySymbology concerns the study of symbols.Symbology may also refer to:-Academics:* Semiotics, study of signs and symbols* Iconography, branch of art history which studies images...
. - Ewan McGregorEwan McGregorEwan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
as the Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Carlo Ventresca in the book). - Ayelet ZurerAyelet ZurerAyelet Zorer is an Israeli actress, perhaps best known for her roles in Nina’s Tragedies, Adam Resurrected, Munich, and Angels & Demons....
as Vittoria Vetra, a CERNCERNThe European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
scientist whose antimatterAntimatterIn particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
experiment has been stolen by the IlluminatiIlluminatiThe Illuminati is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776...
to be used as a bomb. - Stellan SkarsgårdStellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Commander Maximilian Richter, head of the Swiss GuardSwiss GuardSwiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
. - Pierfrancesco FavinoPierfrancesco FavinoPierfrancesco Favino is an actor from Rome, Italy. He has appeared in 35 films and television series' since the early 1990s, including: L'ultimo bacio, Le chiavi di casa , La Sconosciuta or Saturno contro . Favino received the David di Donatello award in 2006 for his role in the film Romanzo...
as Inspector Ernesto Olivetti of the Gendarme Corps of Vatican City StateCorps of Gendarmerie of Vatican CityThe Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano is the gendarmerie, or police and security force, of Vatican City. The corps is responsible for security, public order, border control, traffic control, criminal investigation, and other general police duties in Vatican City...
. - Nikolaj Lie KaasNikolaj Lie KaasNikolaj Lie Kaas is a prominent Danish actor whose career rose in the 1990s and who is still actively working today. He is also the host of the annual Zulu Comedy Galla on Danish TV....
as The Assassin (Mr. Grey). - David PasquesiDavid Pasquesi-Career:Some of his screen credits include Groundhog Day, Strangers with Candy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Return to Me, and The Ice Harvest. He starred in the Steve Delahoyde short film that premiered in , and co-starred with Jeff Garlin in Garlin's I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With; In addition, he...
as Claudio Vincenzi, a Vatican police officer sent to summon Robert Langdon to Rome. - Armin Mueller-StahlArmin Mueller-StahlArmin Mueller-Stahl is a German film actor, painter, writer and musician.-Early life:Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia...
as Cardinal Strauss, Dean of the College of CardinalsDean of the College of CardinalsThe Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals is the president of the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church, and as such always holds the rank of Cardinal Bishop. The Dean is not necessarily the longest-serving member of the whole College...
and the Papal Conclave. (Mortati in the book) - Thure LindhardtThure LindhardtThure Lindhardt is a Danish actor, educated at the drama school at Odense Theater in 1998....
as Lieutenant Chartrand, officer of the Swiss GuardSwiss GuardSwiss Guards or Schweizergarde is the name given to the Swiss soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century. They have had a high reputation for discipline, as well as loyalty to their employers...
. - Elya Baskin as Cardinal Petrov, an eligible member of the Papal Conclave.
- Pasquale Cassalia as the reporter for RAI.
- Auguste Fredrik as the Swiss Guardsman.
- Endre Hules as the CERN scientist.
Development
In 2003, Sony acquired the film rights to Angels & Demons along with The Da Vinci CodeThe Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...
in a deal with author Dan Brown
Dan Brown
Dan Brown is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories...
. In May 2006, following the film release of the 2006 film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code (film)
The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman and based on Dan Brown's worldwide bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code...
, Sony hired screenwriter Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva J. Goldsman from Walker Valley, New York is an American screenwriter and film producer. He received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, which also won the Oscar for Best Picture....
, who wrote the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, to adapt Angels & Demons. Filming was originally to begin in February 2008 for a December 2008 release, but because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
, production was pushed back for a May 15, 2009 release. David Koepp
David Koepp
-Career:As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he was serving as Writer and Second Unit Director.His work as a director has not had...
rewrote the script before shooting began.
Director Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
chose to treat Angels & Demons as a sequel to the previous film, rather than a prequel, since many had read the novel after The Da Vinci Code. He liked the idea that Langdon had been through one adventure and become a more confident character. Howard was also more comfortable taking liberties in adapting the story because the novel is less popular than The Da Vinci Code. Producer Brian Grazer
Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer is an Academy Award-winning American film and television producer who co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. Together they have produced many acclaimed films, including Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind .- Career :Brian Grazer began his career as a producer...
said they were too "reverential" when adapting The Da Vinci Code, which resulted in it being "a little long and stagey." This time, "Langdon doesn't stop and give a speech. When he speaks, he's in motion." Howard concurred "it's very much about modernity clashing with antiquity and technology vs. faith, so these themes, these ideas are much more active whereas the other one lived so much in the past. The tones are just innately so different between the two stories."
Differences between novel and film
McGregor's character was changed from Italian to Northern Irish, to accommodate the Scottish actor. In the novel, the papal conclave attracts relatively little public attention. In the wake of the huge international interest in the 2005 electionPapal conclave, 2005
The Papal conclave of 2005 was convened as a result of the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. After his death, the cardinals who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to elect John Paul's successor. The conclave began on 18 April 2005 and ended on the following...
of Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, this was judged to be out of date, and the level of public and press interest is shown as much higher in the film. Moreover, a number of key characters are omitted or merged with each other; including Vittoria's father Leonardo (whose murder sparks the events of the book). Cardinal Baggia, the cardinal accepted to become Pope is saved in the film, then reveals Illuminati's hiding place to Langdon (Langdon's deduction of the location is one of the highlights of the novel) and is subsequently elected, whereas in the novel the Dean of the College Mortati (Strauss in the film) is ultimately chosen after the Camerlengo's downfall and death. Langdon and Vittoria do not finish the killer off at Castel Sant'Angelo after Vittoria is kidnapped by the assassin and subsequently rescued by Langdon in the movie, and the relationship which subsequently emerges is omitted as well. In the film, the Camerlengo alone, takes the canister of antimatter into the helicopter and then parachutes from it, while Langdon is with Vittoria in St. Peter's Square. In the book, however, both the Camerlengo and Langdon fly up in the helicopter, with the Camerlengo parachuting and Langdon using a piece of the helicopter window as a parachute to descend into the Tiber River. In the book the Camerlengo is chosen pope by 'election by adoration', something which is only considered in the movie. The Camerlengo's death scene is also different, whereas he chooses to set himself aflame in the book instead of seeing it as his only way out. Finally, the last iron which is bestowed indefinitely to Langdon at the end of the book (and is a combination of the four elements as an ambigram, not the Vatican Seal upside-down) is replaced by Galileo's Diagramma della Verita in the film. The Camerlengo's backstory concerning his birth is also omitted in the film.
Filming
Shooting began on June 4, 2008 in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
under the fake working title Obelisk. The filmmakers scheduled three weeks of exterior location filming because of a predicted 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike
2008 Screen Actors Guild strike
The Screen Actors Guild labor dispute of 2008-2009 is an ongoing labor dispute that could lead to a strike by the Screen Actors Guild, the American labor union representing actors in the film industry...
on June 30. The rest of the film would be shot at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, to allow for this halt. Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
officials found The Da Vinci Code offensive and forbade filming in their churches, so these scenes were shot at Sony. The Caserta Palace
Caserta Palace
The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the 18th century...
doubled for the inside of the Vatican, and the Biblioteca Angelica
Angelica Library
The Angelica Library is in Rome, Italy. It is a public library located in the Piazza Sant'Agostino square, next to the church of Sant'Agostino, not far from Piazza Navona....
was used for the Vatican Library
Vatican Library
The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
. Filming took place at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
in July. Sony and Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment
Imagine Entertainment is a film and television production company founded in 1986 by director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.Its productions include the television series 24 and Arrested Development and the films Apollo 13 , A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code .-Organization:Karen...
organized an eco-friendly shoot, selecting when to shoot locations based on how much time and fuel it would save, using cargo containers to support set walls or greenscreens
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
, as well as storing props for future productions or donating them to charity.
Naturalism (theatre)
Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies: detailed, three-dimensional settings Naturalism is a...
he had employed on his previous film Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon (film)
Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. The film was directed by Ron Howard and produced for Universal Pictures by Howard, Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working...
, often using handheld cameras to lend an additional energy to the scenes.
Hanks interrupted filming of one scene in order to help Australian bride Natalia Dearnley get through the crowds to her wedding on time. McGregor said the Pope's funeral was the dullest sequence to film, as they were just walking across staircases. Then, "Someone started singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera...
' [and] it became the funeral theme tune."
When recreating the interior of St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
, production designer Allan Cameron and visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton recognized the 80 feet tall soundstages were only half the size of the real church. They rebuilt the area around and the crypts beneath St. Peter's baldachin
St. Peter's baldachin
Saint Peter's baldachin is a large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy, technically called a ciborium or baldachin, over the high altar of Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, Rome, which is at the centre of the crossing and directly under the dome...
, including the bottoms of the columns and Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
's statue, and surrounded it with a 360 degree greenscreen so the rest could be built digitally. Cameron had twenty crew members photograph as much as they could inside the Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio...
, and had artists sketch, photograph and enlarge recreations of the paintings and mosaics from the photographs. Cameron chose to present the Sistine Chapel as it was before it was cleaned up
Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes
The restoration of the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel was one of the most significant art restorations of the 20th century.The Sistine Chapel was built by Pope Sixtus IV within the Vatican immediately to the north of St. Peter's Basilica and completed in about 1481...
, because he preferred the contrast the smoky, muted colors would present with the cardinals. Although the chapel was built to full size, the Sala Regia
Sala Regia (Vatican)
The Sala Regia is a state hall in the Apostolic Palace, in Vatican City.Although not intended as such, this broad room is really an antechamber to the Sistine Chapel, reached by the Scala Regia...
was made smaller to fit inside the stage.
The Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square
Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...
and the Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...
sets were built on the same backlot
Backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio, containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction....
; after completion of scenes at the former, six weeks were spent converting the set, knocking down the Basilica side and excavating 3½ feet of tarmac to build the fountain. As there had been filming at the real Piazza Navona, the transition between it and the replica had to be seamless. To present the Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo
Santa Maria del Popolo is an Augustinian church located in Rome, Italy.It stands to the north side of the Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The Piazza is situated between the ancient Porta Flaminia and the park of the Pincio...
undergoing renovation, a police station in Rome opposite the real church was used for the exterior; the scaffolding would hide that it was not the church. Cameron built the interior of Santa Maria del Popolo on the same set as the recreated Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria della Vittoria
Santa Maria della Vittoria is a roman catholic titular church and minor basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary located in Rome, Italy. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Cornaro Chapel, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa....
to save money; the scaffolding also disguised this. The film's version of Santa Maria della Vittoria was larger than the real one, so it would accommodate the cranes used to film the scene. To film the Pantheon's
Pantheon, Rome
The Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
interior, two aedicula
Aedicula
In religion in ancient Rome, an aedicula is a small shrine. The word aedicula is the diminutive of the Latin aedes, a temple building or house....
e and the tomb of Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
were rebuilt to scale at a height of 30 feet, while the rest was greenscreen. Because of the building's symmetrical layout, the filmmakers were able to shoot the whole scene over two days and redress
Redress
In film, a redress is the redecoration of an existing movie set, so that it can double for another set. This saves the trouble and expenses of constructing a second, new set, though they face the difficulty of doing it so the average viewer does not notice the same set is reused...
the real side to pretend it was another. The second unit
Second unit
In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...
took photographs of the Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
and pasted these in scenes set at CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
.
Music
Angels & Demons: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on May 22, 2009.Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
returned to compose the score for the sequel. He chose to develop the "Chevaliers de Sangreal" track from the end of The Da Vinci Code as Langdon's main theme in the film. The soundtrack also features violinist Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
.
Home media and different versions
The DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
was released on November 24, 2009 in several countries as a theatrical version and extended cut.
The extended cut includes violent scenes which had been cut out to secure a PG-13 rating. In the UK, the already censored US theatrical version had to be censored further in order to obtain a BBFC 12 rating. The Blu-ray includes the original theatrical version and is classified BBFC 15.
Catholic controversy
CBS NewsCBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
interviewed a priest working in Santa Susanna
Santa Susanna
The Church of Saint Susanna at the baths of Diocletian is a Roman Catholic parish church on the Quirinal Hill in Rome, with a titulus associated to its site that dates back to about 280...
, who stated the Church did not want their churches to be associated with scenes of murder. A tour guide also stated most priests do not object to tourists who visit out of interest after reading the book, a trend which will continue after people see the film. "I think they are aware that it's, you know, a work of fiction and that it's bringing people into their churches." Grazer deemed it odd that although The Da Vinci Code was a more controversial novel, they had more freedom shooting its film adaptation in London and France. Italian authorities hoped the filmmakers corrected the location errors in the novel, to limit the amount of explaining they will have to do for confused tourists.
William A. Donohue
William A. Donohue
William Anthony "Bill" Donohue is the president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States, a position he has held since 1993.-Life and career:...
, president of the Catholic League
Catholic League (U.S.)
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, often shortened to the Catholic League, is an American Catholic anti-defamation and civil rights organization...
, has not called for a boycott, but has requested that Catholics inform others about anti-Catholic sentiments in the story. "My goal... is to give the public a big FYI: Enjoy the movie, but know that it is a fable. It is based on malicious myths, intentionally advanced by Brown-Howard." A Sony executive responded they were disappointed Donohue had not created attention for the film closer to its release date. Howard criticized Donohue for prejudging the film, responding it could not be called anti-Catholic since Langdon protects the Church, and because of its depiction of priests who support science.
The official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
has called the film "harmless entertainment", giving it a positive review and acknowledging that "the theme is always the same: a sect versus the Church, [but] this time, the Church is on the side of the good guys." Beforehand, it had stated it would not approve the film, while La Stampa
La Stampa
La Stampa is one of the best-known, most influential and most widely sold Italian daily newspapers. Published in Turin, it is distributed in Italy and other European nations. The current owner is the Fiat Group.-History:...
reported the Vatican would boycott it. However, it also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis
Velasio de Paolis
Velasio de Paolis, CS JCD STL is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was president emeritus of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and is Pontifical Delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.-Early life:De Paolis was born in Sonnino, and became a...
as saying a boycott would probably just have the "boomerang effect
Streisand effect
The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely...
" of drawing more attention to Angels & Demons and make it more popular.
Banned in Samoa
In SamoaSamoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, the film was banned by principal film censor Lei'ataua Olo'apu. Olo'apu stated that he was banning the film because it was "critical of the Catholic Church" and so as to "avoid any religious discrimination by other denominations and faiths against the Church." The Samoa Observer remarked that Olo'apu himself is Catholic. Samoan society is, in the words of a BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
article, "deeply conservative and devoutly Christian." The Censorship Board had previously banned the film The Da Vinci Code, for being "contradictory to Christian beliefs."
Critical reception
The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Review aggregate website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
labeled the film "rotten", reporting that only 36% of 237 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's general consensus is that "Angels and Demons is a fast-paced thrill ride, and an improvement on the last Dan Brown adaptation, but the storyline too often wavers between implausible and ridiculous, and does not translate effectively to the big screen." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" demographic, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 32% based on 38 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
has a rating score of 48 out of 100 based on 36 reviews.
Richard Corliss of Time magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
gave the film a positive review stating that "Angels & Demons has elemental satisfactions in its blend of movie genre that could appeal to wide segments of the audience." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
awarded the film with 3 stars praising Howard's direction as an "even-handed job of balancing the scales" and claiming "[the film] promises to entertain." The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
gave the film a positive review claiming the movie is "an OK action film
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a 2.5/4 stars claiming "the movie can be enjoyed for the hell-raising hooey it is." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
gave the movie a mixed review claiming the film "manages to keep you partially engaged even at its most esoteric or absurd."
Neil Smith from Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying: "some of the author's crazier embellishments are jettisoned in a film that atones for The Da Vinci Code's cardinal sin — thou shalt not bore." Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
awarded it 3 out of 5 stars, stating: "every supporting character acts like an unhelpful idiot to keep the plot stirring, while yet again a seemingly all-powerful conspiracy seems to consist of two whole evil guys."
Box office
Overseas Angels & Demons maintained the #1 position for the second weekend as well even with the release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the SmithsonianNight at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is an American adventure comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams, and Steve Coogan. The film is a sequel to Night at the Museum...
which opened at #2. The Da Vinci Code had opened domestically to $77.1 million, but the sequel's opening met Columbia Pictures' $40–50 million prediction, since the film's source material was not as popular as its predecessor's. Within more than a month, the film grossed $478,869,160 worldwide, making it the largest grossing film of 2009 until it was surpassed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Transformers and the second installment in the live-action Transformers series...
. Of this $478 million, just over 27% of it is from domestic venues, giving the film unusually high worldwide totals, with over $30 million in the UK, $21 million in Spain, $13 million in Brazil, $13 million in Russia, $34 million in Japan and $47 million in Germany. Angels & Demons was the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2009, with box-office figures of $485,930,810 worldwide.It received good response in metro cities of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
like Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
See also
- Draper–White thesisConflict thesisThe conflict thesis proposes an intrinsic intellectual conflict between religion and science. The original historical usage of the term denoted that the historical record indicates religion’s perpetual opposition to science. Later uses of the term denote religion’s epistemological opposition to...
- Particle accelerators in popular cultureParticle accelerators in popular cultureParticle accelerators in popular culture is about popular science books, fictional literature, feature films, TV series and other venues which include particle accelerators as part of their content...