Alternative Film Guide

Notes:

Background:

Leonardo da Vinci began painting The Last Supper in 1495. The work was finished three years later.

Da Vinci didn’t use the conventional method for painting frescoes — the application of egg tempura on wet plaster — opting instead to paint directly onto the dry wall. By 1556, art historian Vasari wrote that The Last Supper had deteriorated so badly that only the vague shapes of the figures remained.

From the Da Vinci Code press release:

The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar came into being in 1118 after the holy city of Jerusalem (which had been conquered in 614 A.D. by the Caliph Umar) was recaptured by Christian forces during the First Crusade. The new Kingdom of Jerusalem was ruled by Baldwin I, crowned in 1100, and the Knights, led by Hugues de Payens, occupied a wing of his castle in the former Al Aqsa Mosque, where the great Temple of Solomon had once stood. As a result, they soon became known as the Knights of the Temple, or Templars. The Knights were a monastic military order dedicated to the protection of Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Lands. As knightly monks, they took vows of poverty and celibacy. Their emblem was a red cross on a white tunic, while their sergeants (who were not members of the nobility) wore red on black. The order was endorsed by Bernard, the powerful Abbott of Clairvaux (founder of the Cistercian Order, later beatified as St. Bernard) and the order was officially recognized by the Church at the Council of Troyes in 1128. It is probable that Bernard wrote the Templars’ "Rule," which swore allegiance only to the Pope.

These fabled warriors soon began expanding their mandate from protecting pilgrims to fighting for all the causes of the Holy Kingdom of Jerusalem. They went from protecting property for absent pilgrims to banking — loaning would-be pilgrims funds for the journey against their property — and levying taxes as well as collecting tithes. Their land holdings and wealth soon became vast, and their influence was sufficient to provoke resentment by political leaders, who were never able to gain control of them. The Templars’ holdings stretched across Europe and included castles in the Holy Land and Cyprus, and their knowledge of the East inevitably involved them in politics. They were the forerunners of the modern professional military, a dedicated, well-trained and disciplined institution that eschewed individual heroics in favor of the greater goal.

The Templars’ chief rivals were the Hospitalers, an order begun in 1070 to care for pilgrims and provide the less wealthy with lodging. They, too, quickly evolved into a military order with great power and wealth. The refusal of these two powerful orders to work together and increasing indebtedness to them became a major headache for Europe’s secular rulers, but the Hospitalers continued with their charitable works, which deflected the wrath that eventually destroyed the Templars.

On Friday October 13, 1307 (believed to be the origin of the superstition that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day), King Philip IV of France issued orders for the arrest of the Templars and confiscation of their property. The captured Templars were tortured and confessed to a variety of heresies and perversions. In spite of efforts to save the order — in a few trials members were found innocent — the forces against them were too determined, and Jacques de Molay, the order’s last Grand Master, was burned at the stake in 1314, ending the Knights Templar after 200 years.

The Priory of Sion

In his novel, The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown contends that the Priory of Sion is a real organization founded in 1099, and that parchments housed at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris reveal that its membership included many leading figures of literature, art and science. However, the documents in the Bibliothèque Nationale have been revealed to be modern forgeries placed there by Pierre Plantard, who admitted to having "founded" the Priory with three friends in 1956, either as a lark or part of a con. He was elected the Grand Master of the Priory in 1981.

The phony documents and manuscripts, which have become known as the "Dossiers Secrets," claim that the secret organization was founded in 1099 by Godefroy de Bouillon, who led the first army to depart for Jerusalem during the First Crusade, and was the original ruler of the recaptured Holy Land. The Priory is also given credit for the creation of the Knights Templar, which supposedly then split with them some 100 years later.

The Louvre

The initial scenes of The Da Vinci Code were shot in the streets of Paris, where the intricate and exciting Smart-car chase scenes took place at the legendary Musée du Louvre and outside the city at the Château de Villette near Versailles. Originally constructed as a fortress to protect the Right Bank in the late 12th century, the Louvre has played a long and varied role in Parisian history. It first was transformed into a Gothic royal residence in the 14th century by Charles V, and then ambitiously recreated as a Renaissance palace in the 16th century for King Francois I, the last patron of Leonardo da Vinci. The Grande Galerie opened as a museum in 1793. Nearly 200 years later, after many more changes and extensions, Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei designed new underground spaces as well as the controversial glass pyramid that now serves as the museum’s entrance and is an important symbol in the movie.

Château de Villette

The character Sir Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen) lives in the Château de Villette, which lies northwest of Paris, close to Versailles. (Langdon and Sophie arrive there late at night in the armored truck they have appropriated to seek his advice on the Holy Grail.) Completed on or about 1696 for François Mansart, the Count of Aufflay, (Ambassador to Venice under King Louis XIV), the impressive 185-acre estate includes two rectangular lakes, cascading fountains and beautiful gardens designed by André Le Nôtre, who also designed the gardens of the Palais de Versailles. Filming took place over three nights on the grounds of the Château, though the majority of the interiors (apart from the foyer) were filmed on various soundstages at Shepperton Studios.

Temple Church

Travelling to London to find additional clues in solving the riddle of the cryptex, Langdon, Neveu and Teabing race to Temple Church, which is located between Fleet Street and the River Thames. The church, consecrated in 1185, was one element of a temple constructed in the 12th century to serve as the headquarters in England of the Knights Templar. The church is divided into two parts, the original Round, and the rectangular Chancel, completed in 1240. The Round was designed after the round Holy Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Nine lifesize stone effigies of knights lie on the floor. After the destruction and abolition of the Knights Templar in 1307, the rival Knights Hospitalers took over until they were ousted and their properties seized by Henry VIII. The Crown eventually rented parts of the temple to two colleges of lawyers, collectively called the Inns of Court, who use it and the surrounding area to this day. The church was bombed in 1941 during WWII, and has been painstakingly reconstructed, down to its leaning marble columns.

Lincoln Cathedral

Lincoln Cathedral, consecrated in 1092, was built by Bishop Remigius on orders of William the Conqueror, and is a universally admired example of Early English Gothic architecture. It has survived earthquakes, fires and collapsing spires over the centuries. The central tower rises to 271 feet and remains the highest cathedral tower in Europe without a spire, and during the 200 years that the original spire stood (before collapsing in 1594), it was the world’s tallest structure. Lincoln Cathedral has played a prominent role in English history. A bishop of Lincoln was one of the signatories of the Magna Carta, an original copy of which is still housed in the castle adjacent to the Cathedral.

Rosslyn Chapel

Langdon and Neveu’s quest finally ends at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. Rosslyn Chapel is located seven miles south of Edinburgh, in the town of Roslin, which was created to house the chapel’s masons. The Chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William St. Clair, Prince of Orkney, who presumably intended to build a far larger church to be laid out in the shape of a cross. Work was halted when Sir William died in 1484.

The Gothic Chapel, which measures only 69 feet by 35 feet, contains intricate stone carvings that capture the imagination, ranging from traditional Christian depictions to Norse and Celtic myths to the supposed death mask of Robert the Bruce. There are dragons, devils and 100 Green Men. It’s no wonder the chapel has so captured writers — Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth among them.

Legend surrounds the chapel, and it’s said that William St. Clair was a Grand Master of the Templars. Another legend, suggested by stone carvings that appear to be rows of corn — a New World vegetable as yet undiscovered at the time of the carving — is that a grandfather of William St. Clair may have reached Newfoundland in 1398 and travelled south into Massachusetts.

 

Historical Inaccuracies:

From Bart D. Ehrman’s concise, informative, and highly readable Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code.

A few Da Vinci Code errors and distortions mentioned in Ehrman’s book:

• Jesus’ life was not recorded by thousands of followers and observers. His relatively few followers were for the most part poor and most probably illiterate. There’s no evidence of anything having been written about Jesus while he was alive.

• Jesus was considered divine long before the Council of Nicea.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish texts. They have nothing about Jesus or Christianity in them.

• There was no Christian-Pagan war in the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine. Christians were a small, though growing, persecuted minority.

• Constantine converted to Christianity long before his death.

• Christianity had become a thoroughly patriarchal religion by the second century — long before Constantine’s time.

 

Production:

Sony Pictures paid US$6 million for the film rights to Dan Brown’s novel.

Some reports claim that composer Hans Zimmer replaced Ron Howard’s long-time collaborator James Horner for The Da Vinci Code.

Claiming the book is "theologically unsound," Westminster Abbey officials refused to allow filming at the abbey. Instead, filming was done at Lincoln Cathedral, three hours north of London.

Some reports say that Ron Howard’s first choice to play Professor Robert Langdon was Bill Paxton, but the actor was unavailable. The film’s press release, however, states that "Hanks had been involved with The Da Vinci Code almost from its inception."

Although the Louvre was used for night filming, certain scenes set inside the museum were shot on the "James Bond" stage at Pinewood Studios, just outside London. Some of the film was also shot at Shepperton Studios, southwest of London. Scenic artist, James Gemmill did the paintings atop blown-ups digital reproductions of the originals.

The flashback scenes set in the Holy Land and in Spain were shot in Malta. The Italian sequences were shot in the Lincolnshire countryside.

The names of the characters in The Da Vinci Code have "coded" meanings that the easily impressed may find clever. For instance:

Sophie Neveu - Sophie comes from the Greek word for "wisdom," and Neveu means "descendant" in French.

Bézu Fache - Bézu is the location of a Knights Templar fortress in Southern France, and Fache means "cross" in French.

Bishop Aringarosa - Aringa means "herring" and Rosa is supposed to mean "red." The problem is that red (feminine) in Italian is actually "rossa." The word "rosa" means "pink."

 

THE DA VINCI CODE

FINDING NEVERLAND - Notes/Trivia

THE AVIATOR - Notes/Trivia

CHICAGO (1927) - Notes/Trivia

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA - Awards and Nominations

CRASH - Awards and Nominations

WALK THE LINE Awards and Nominations

FAHRENHEIT 9/11 - Notes

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - Awards and Nominations

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - Notes/Trivia

 

 

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