Remember Angels & Demons, the sequel or prequel (depending on how the movie adapts the novel) to The Da Vinci Code? Variety reports that Ron Howard is rushing it into production:
As Hollywood scrambles to make deals before the Oct. 31 expiration of the WGA pact, one fast-tracked project has almost flown under the radar — though it could become one of the biggest films assembled during this frenzied period.
Columbia has formalized a February start in Europe for “Angels & Demons,” the Ron Howard-directed sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” that will be released in December 2008.
Producers Brian Grazer and John Calley, Col, Howard and writer Akiva Goldsman are seeking to finalize the shooting script before next week’s deadline. Meanwhile, the “Angels” team have begun casting around Tom Hanks, who will reprise his role as Robert Langdon. . . .
Hanks’ character, a Harvard-based expert on religious symbols, this time sleuths a mystery that involves a secret society and a conspiracy that leads to Vatican City and threatens the future of the Catholic Church. . . .
Unless I am mistaken, this will mark the first time Ron Howard has directed a sequel to one of his own films, as well as the first time Tom Hanks has played the same character twice — apart from the Toy Story movies, where he only provides his voice, of course.
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