Dan Brown

Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author most well known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon stories, Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), The Lost Symbol (2009), Inferno (2013) and Origin (2017). His novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period,[2] and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, art, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages, and as of 2012, sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003) and Inferno (2013) have been adapted into films.

Brown's novels that feature the lead character, Langdon, also include historical themes and Christianity as motifs, and have generated controversy. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey' himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith".

Dan Brown
Brown in 2015
Brown in 2015
BornDaniel Gerhard Brown[1]
June 22, 1964 (age 54)
Exeter, New Hampshire, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
LanguageEnglish
Alma materAmherst College
GenreThriller, adventure, mystery, conspiracy
Notable worksDigital Fortress
Deception Point
Angels & Demons
The Da Vinci Code
The Lost Symbol
Inferno
Origin
SpouseBlythe Newlon (m. 1997)
Signature
Dan Brown's signature
Website
danbrown.com

Early life

Dan Gerhard Brown was born on June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He has a younger sister, Valerie (born 1968) and brother, Gregory (born 1974). Brown attended Exeter's public schools until the ninth grade.[3] He grew up on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy, where his father, Richard G. Brown, was a teacher of mathematics and wrote textbooks[4] from 1968 until his retirement in 1997.[5] His mother, Constance (née Gerhard), trained as a church organist and student of sacred music.[3] Brown was raised an Episcopalian,[4] and described his religious evolution in a 2009 interview:

"I was raised Episcopalian, and I was very religious as a kid. Then, in eighth or ninth grade, I studied astronomy, cosmology, and the origins of the universe. I remember saying to a minister, 'I don't get it. I read a book that said there was an explosion known as the Big Bang, but here it says God created heaven and Earth and the animals in seven days. Which is right?' Unfortunately, the response I got was, 'Nice boys don't ask that question.' A light went off, and I said, 'The Bible doesn't make sense. Science makes much more sense to me.' And I just gravitated away from religion.[4]

When asked in the same interview about his then-current religious views, Brown replied:

The irony is that I've really come full circle. The more science I studied, the more I saw that physics becomes metaphysics and numbers become imaginary numbers. The further you go into science, the mushier the ground gets. You start to say, 'Oh, there is an order and a spiritual aspect to science.'"[4]

Brown's interest in secrets and puzzles stems from their presence in his household as a child, where codes and ciphers were the linchpin tying together the mathematics, music, and languages in which his parents worked. The young Brown spent hours working out anagrams and crossword puzzles, and he and his siblings participated in elaborate treasure hunts devised by their father on birthdays and holidays. On Christmas, for example, Brown and his siblings did not find gifts under the tree, but followed a treasure map with codes and clues throughout their house and even around town to find the gifts.[6] Brown's relationship with his father inspired that of Sophie Neveu and Jacques Saunière in The Da Vinci Code, and Chapter 23 of that novel was inspired by one of his childhood treasure hunts.[7]

After graduating from Phillips Exeter, Brown attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. He played squash, sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and was a writing student of visiting novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown spent the 1985 school year abroad in Seville, Spain, where he was enrolled in an art history course at the University of Seville.[6] Brown graduated from Amherst in 1986.[8][9]

Career

Songwriter and pop singer

After graduating from Amherst, Brown dabbled with a musical career, creating effects with a synthesizer, and self-producing a children's cassette entitled SynthAnimals, which included a collection of tracks such as "Happy Frogs" and "Suzuki Elephants"; it sold a few hundred copies. He then formed his own record company called Dalliance, and in 1990 self-published a CD entitled Perspective, targeted to the adult market, which also sold a few hundred copies. In 1991 he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as singer-songwriter and pianist. To support himself, he taught classes at Beverly Hills Preparatory School.[10][11]

He also joined the National Academy of Songwriters and participated in many of its events. It was there that he met Blythe Newlon, a woman 12 years his senior, who was the Academy's Director of Artist Development. Though it was not officially part of her job, she took on the seemingly unusual task of helping to promote Brown's projects; she wrote press releases, set up promotional events, and put him in contact with people who could be helpful to his career. She and Brown also developed a personal relationship, though this was not known to all of their associates until 1993, when Brown moved back to New Hampshire, and it was learned that Newlon would accompany him. They married in 1997, at Pea Porridge Pond, near Conway, New Hampshire.[12]

In 1994 Brown released a CD titled Angels & Demons. Its artwork was the same ambigram by artist John Langdon which he later used for the novel Angels & Demons. The liner notes also again credited his wife for her involvement, thanking her "for being my tireless cowriter, coproducer, second engineer, significant other, and therapist". The CD included songs such as "Here in These Fields" and the religious ballad, "All I Believe".[13]

Brown and his wife, Blythe, moved to his hometown, Rye, New Hampshire in 1993.[14] Brown became an English teacher at his alma mater Phillips Exeter, and gave Spanish classes to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Lincoln Akerman School, a small school for K–8th grade with about 250 students, in Hampton Falls.[15]

Writing

While on vacation in Tahiti in 1993,[6] Brown read Sidney Sheldon's novel The Doomsday Conspiracy, and was inspired to become a writer of thrillers.[6][16][17]

He started work on Digital Fortress, setting much of it in Seville, where he had studied in 1985. He also co-wrote a humor book with his wife, 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman, under the pseudonym "Danielle Brown". The book's author profile reads, "Danielle Brown currently lives in New England: teaching school, writing books, and avoiding men." The copyright is attributed to Brown.

In 1996 Brown quit teaching to become a full-time writer. Digital Fortress was published in 1998. His wife, Blythe, did much of the book's promotion, writing press releases, booking Brown on talk shows, and setting up press interviews. A few months later, Brown and his wife released The Bald Book, another humor book. It was officially credited to his wife, though a representative of the publisher said that it was primarily written by Brown. Brown subsequently wrote Angels & Demons and Deception Point, released in 2000 and 2001 respectively, the former of which was the first to feature the lead character, Harvard symbology expert Robert Langdon.

Brown's first three novels had little success, with fewer than 10,000 copies in each of their first printings. His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became a bestseller, going to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list during its first week of release in 2003. It is one of the most popular books of all time, with 81 million copies sold worldwide as of 2009.[18][19] Its success has helped push sales of Brown's earlier books.

In 2004 all four of his novels were on the New York Times list in the same week,[20] and, in 2005, he made Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People of the Year. Forbes magazine placed Brown at No. 12 on their 2005 "Celebrity 100" list, and estimated his annual income at US$76.5 million. The Times estimated his income from Da Vinci Code sales as $250 million.

Brown's third novel featuring Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, was released on September 15, 2009.[21] According to the publisher, on its first day the book sold over one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the US, the UK and Canada, prompting the printing of 600,000 hardcover copies in addition to the five million first printing.[22]

The story takes place in Washington D.C. over a period of twelve hours, and features the Freemasons. The book also includes many great elements that made The Da Vinci Code a number one best seller.

Brown's promotional website states that puzzles hidden in the book jacket of The Da Vinci Code, including two references to the Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, give hints about the sequel. This repeats a theme from some of Brown's earlier work.

Brown's fourth novel featuring Robert Langdon, Inferno is a mystery thriller novel released on May 14, 2013, by Doubleday.[23] It immediately became a bestseller.[24]

In a 2006 interview, Brown stated that he had ideas for about 12 future books featuring Robert Langdon.[25]

Characters in Brown's books are often named after real people in his life. Robert Langdon is named after John Langdon, the artist who created the ambigrams used for the Angels & Demons CD and novel. Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca is named after On a Claire Day cartoonist friend Carla Ventresca. In the Vatican archives, Langdon recalls a wedding of two people named Dick and Connie, which are the names of his parents. Robert Langdon's editor Jonas Faukman is named after Brown's real life editor Jason Kaufman. Brown also said that characters were based on a New Hampshire librarian, and a French teacher at Exeter, André Vernet. Cardinal Aldo Baggia, in Angels & Demons, is named after Aldo Baggia, instructor of modern languages at Phillips Exeter Academy.[26]

In interviews, Brown has said his wife, Blythe, is an art historian and painter. When they met, she was the Director of Artistic Development at the National Academy for Songwriters in Los Angeles. During the 2006 lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement in The Da Vinci Code, information was introduced at trial that showed that Blythe did research for the book.[27] In one article, she was described as "chief researcher".[28]

Doubleday published his seventh book, Origin, on October 3, 2017. It is the fifth book in his Robert Langdon series.[29]

Influences and habits

In addition to Sidney Sheldon, Brown has been quite vocal about a number of other literary influences who have inspired his writing. He has named his six favorite literary works as Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, Codes Ciphers & Other Cryptic & Clandestine Communication by Fred Wrixon, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Wordplay: Ambigrams and Reflections on the Art of Ambigrams by John Langdon, Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford.

Commenting on Much Ado About Nothing, Brown says, "I didn't understand how funny this play Much Ado About Nothing truly was until I became an English teacher and had to teach it. There is no wittier dialogue anywhere". Speaking of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Trilogy, he states, "Ludlum's early books are complex, smart, and yet still move at a lightning pace. This series got me interested in the genre of big-concept, international thrillers."[30][31]

Recurring elements that Brown prefers to incorporate into his novels include a simple hero pulled out of their familiar setting and thrust into a new one with which they are unfamiliar, strong female characters, travel to interesting locations, and a 24-hour time frame in which the story takes place.[2]

Brown does his writing in his loft. He told fans that he uses inversion therapy to help with writer's block. He uses gravity boots and says, "hanging upside down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire perspective".[32]

Copyright infringement cases

In August 2005 author Lewis Perdue unsuccessfully sued Brown for plagiarism, on the basis of claimed similarity between The Da Vinci Code and his novels, The Da Vinci Legacy (1983) and Daughter of God (2000). Judge George Daniels said, in part: "A reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that The Da Vinci Code is substantially similar to Daughter of God."[33]

In April 2006 Brown's publisher, Random House, won a copyright infringement case brought by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who claimed that Brown stole ideas from their 1982 book Holy Blood Holy Grail for his 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code. It was in the book Holy Blood Holy Grail that Baigent, Leigh, and co-author Henry Lincoln had advanced the theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child and that the bloodline continues to this day. Brown apparently alluded to the two authors' names in his book. Leigh Teabing, a lead character in both the novel and the film, uses Leigh's name as the first name, and anagrammatically derives his last name from Baigent's. Mr Justice Peter Smith found in Brown's favor in the case, and as a private amusement, embedded his own Smithy code in the written judgment.[34]

On March 28, 2007, Brown's publisher, Random House, won an appeal copyright infringement case. The Court of Appeal of England and Wales rejected the efforts from Baigent and Leigh, who became liable for paying legal expenses of nearly US$6 million.[35]

Brown has been sued twice in U.S. Federal courts by the author Jack Dunn who claims Brown copied a huge part of his book The Vatican Boys to write The Da Vinci Code (2006–07) and Angels & Demons (2011-12). Both lawsuits were not allowed to go to a jury trial. In 2017, in London, another claim was begun against Brown by Jack Dunn who claimed that Justice was not served in the U.S. lawsuits.

Charity work

In October 2004, Brown and his siblings donated US$2.2 million to Phillips Exeter Academy in honor of their father, to set up the Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment to help "provide computers and high-tech equipment for students in need".[36]

Brown and his wife Blythe are supporters of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.[37]

On April 14, 2011, Dan and Blythe Brown created an eponymous scholarship fund to celebrate his 25th reunion from Amherst College, a permanently endowed scholarship fund at the college whose income provides financial aid to students there, with preference for incoming students with an interest in writing.[9]

On June 16, 2016, Dan Brown donated US$337,000 to the Ritman Library in Amsterdam to digitize a collection of ancient books.[38]

Reception

Brown's prose style has been criticized as clumsy,[39][40] with The Da Vinci Code being described as 'committing style and word choice blunders in almost every paragraph'.[41] Much of the criticism was centered on Brown's claim found in its preface that the novel is based on fact in relation to Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion, and that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in [the] novel are accurate".[42][43]

Bibliography

Stand-alone novels

Robert Langdon series

Adaptations

In 2006, Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code was released as a film by Columbia Pictures, with director Ron Howard. It was widely anticipated and launched the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, though it received overall poor reviews. It currently has a 24% rating at the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, derived from 165 negative reviews of the 214 counted.[45] It was later listed as one of the worst films of 2006 on Ebert & Roeper,[46] but also the second highest-grossing film of the year, pulling in US$750 million worldwide.[47]

Brown was listed as one of the executive producers of the film The Da Vinci Code, and also created additional codes for the film. One of his songs, "Phiano", which Brown wrote and performed, was listed as part of the film's soundtrack. In the film, Brown and his wife can be seen in the background of one of the early book signing scenes. (Dan Brown looks briefly into the camera at time code 06:12 - 06:14, next to his wife, but both are a bit out of focus, so it's hard to catch when you watch the movie.)

The next film, Angels & Demons, was released on May 15, 2009, with Howard and Hanks returning. It, too, garnered mostly negative reviews, though critics were kinder to it than to its predecessor. As of July 2013, it has a 37% meta-rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[48]

Filmmakers expressed interest in adapting The Lost Symbol into a film as well.[49][50]

The screenplay was written by Danny Strong, with pre-production expected to begin in 2013.[51] According to a January 2013 article in Los Angeles Times the final draft of the screenplay was due sometime in February,[51] but in July 2013, Sony Pictures announced they would instead adapt Inferno for an October 14, 2016[52] release date with Ron Howard as director, David Koepp adapting the screenplay and Tom Hanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon.[53]

Imagine Entertainment is set to produce a television series based on Digital Fortress, to be written by Josh Goldin and Rachel Abramowitz.[54]

References

  1. ^ "The Dan Brown Enigma", Broward County, Florida Library; retrieved August 3, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Brown. Witness statement, pp. 17, 21.
  3. ^ a b Rogak, Lisa (May 7, 2013). Dan Brown: The Unauthorized Biography, St. Martin's Press. pp. 6-8. Archived at Google Books; retrieved August 3, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Kaplan, James (September 13, 2009). "Life after 'The Da Vinci Code'". Parade.
  5. ^ Rogak (2013), p. 122
  6. ^ a b c d Lattman, Peter (March 14, 2006). "'The Da Vinci Code' Trial: Dan Brown's Witness Statement Is a Great Read". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  7. ^ Brown. Witness statement, p. 36.
  8. ^ "Bestselling authors Dan Brown '86, Charles Mann '76 to speak Thursday", amherst.edu, September 24, 2013.
  9. ^ a b "Dan Brown '86 Creates Scholarship Fund to Celebrate his 25th Reunion". Creating Connections: A Campaign for Amherst. Amherst College; retrieved August 9, 2012.
  10. ^ "Dan Brown Facts". Softschools.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  11. ^ "Dan Brown - Book Series In Order". Book Series In order. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  12. ^ Walters, Joanna and Alice O'Keeffe. How Dan Brown's wife unlocked the code to bestseller success, observer.guardian.co.uk, March 12, 2006.
  13. ^ Rogak, Lisa. The Man Behind the Da Vinci Code – an Unauthorized Biography of Dan Brown. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2005; ISBN 0-7407-5642-7
  14. ^ How Dan Brown's wife unlocked the code to bestseller success | UK news | The Guardian Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  15. ^ "Dan Brown's Education Background". www.eduinreview.com.
  16. ^ Sources differ on how Sheldon inspired Brown. He indicates on Page 3 of his witness statement that Sheldon's book was an attention-holding page turner that reminded him how fun it was to read, but the BBC source indicates that he thought he could "do better" than Sheldon.
  17. ^ "Decoding the Da Vinci Code author". BBC. August 10, 2004. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  18. ^ Henninger, Daniel (19 May 2006). "Holy Sepulchre! 60 Million Buy 'The Da Vinci Code'". WSJ. Retrieved 18 February 2019. (Subscription required (help)).
  19. ^ Marcus, Caroline (September 13, 2009). "Brown is back with the code for a runaway bestseller". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  20. ^ Mehegan, David (May 8, 2004). "Thriller instinct". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  21. ^ Carbone, Gina (April 20, 2009). "Dan Brown announces newbook, 'The Lost Symbol'". Boston Herald. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  22. ^ Rich, Motoko (September 16, 2009). "Dan Brown's 'Lost Symbol' Sells 1 Million Copies in the First Day". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  23. ^ McLaughlin, Erin (January 15, 2013). "New Dan Brown Novel, 'Inferno', Set for May Release". ABC News. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
  24. ^ "Bestsellers". The New York Times. June 23, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013.
  25. ^ Kirschling, Gregory (March 26, 2006). "'Da' Last Big Interview". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  26. ^ Rogak, p. 22
  27. ^ "Librarian comments on 'Da Vinci' lawsuit". USA Today. March 1, 2006. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  28. ^ "Brown duels in court". The Standard. March 16, 2006. Archived from the original on May 24, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  29. ^ Raynor, Madeline. "Dan Brown's Origin gets fall 2017 release date". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  30. ^ "Dan Brown's 6 favorite books", theweek.com, September 18, 2009.
  31. ^ "Meet the Writers: Dan Brown" Archived November 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, barnesandnoble.com; retrieved September 8, 2013.
  32. ^ "Brown plays down Code controversy". BBC. April 24, 2006. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  33. ^ "Author Brown 'did not plagiarise'". BBC. August 6, 2005. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  34. ^ "Judge creates own Da Vinci code". BBC News. April 27, 2006. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  35. ^ Herman, Michael (March 28, 2007). "Historians lose Da Vinci Code plagiarism appeal". The Times. London, UK. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  36. ^ "Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown and Siblings, Valerie Brown '85 and Gregory Brown '93 Establish New Fund in Honor of their Father". November 1, 2004. Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  37. ^ "Bridges: The Foundation of Our Future: THE NEW HAMPSHIRE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION 2009 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY" Archived August 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. 2009; retrieved July 21, 2012.
  38. ^ "Da Vinci Code Author Dan Brown donates to Ritman Library in Amsterdam". June 16, 2016.
  39. ^ Chivers, Tom (September 15, 2009). "The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's 20 worst sentences". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
  40. ^ Deacon, Michael (May 10, 2014). "Don't make fun of renowned Dan Brown". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  41. ^ Criticism of The Da Vinci Code, itre.cis.upenn.edu; accessed March 11, 2015.
  42. ^ Richard Abanes, The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code (Harvest House Publishers, 2004; ISBN 0-7369-1439-0).
  43. ^ David F. Lloyd. "Facing Facts". Archived from the original on May 26, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
  44. ^ Flood, Alison (September 29, 2016). "Dan Brown returns to Da Vinci decoder for new novel Origin". The Guardian. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  45. ^ "The Da Vinci Code". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  46. ^ Guest reviewer Michael Phillips, sitting in for Roger Ebert, listed The Da Vinci Code at No. 2 on his list, second to All the King's Men, "Worst Movies of 2006" Ebert & Roeper, January 13, 2007
  47. ^ The Da Vinci Code (2006), Box Office Mojo.com; accessed January 28, 2018.
  48. ^ Angels & Demons (2009), rottentomatoes.com; retrieved October 7, 2011.
  49. ^ Fleming, Michael (April 20, 2009). "Columbia moves on 'Symbol': Studio gets ball rolling with third 'Da Vinci' picture". Variety.com. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  50. ^ "The mystery of Dan Brown". The Guardian. London, UK. September 15, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  51. ^ a b Nicole Sperling (January 15, 2013). "Dan Brown: What's the film status of his book 'The Lost Symbol'?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
  52. ^ "Tom Hanks' 'Inferno' Shifts Opening to 2016". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  53. ^ "Tom Hanks And Ron Howard To Return For Next Dan Brown Movie 'Inferno'; Sony Sets December 2015 Release Date". Deadline.com. July 16, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  54. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (September 11, 2014). "ABC Nabs Adaptation Of Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress' From Imagine & 20th TV". Deadline. Retrieved October 21, 2014.

External links

Dan Brown (blogger)

Daniel Scott Zahller Brown (born May 15, 1990) is an American vlogger and discussion host, under the YouTube alias Pogobat. Brown has been noted in the media for his newly and widely viewed videos, focusing mainly on how-to videos as well as current events discussion and comedy.

Brown is also the founder of the Pogopalooza - the annual world championship of the sport of stunt pogo - which he founded at the age of 14.On August 2, 2010, Dan launched a project entitled "Dan 3.0," in which viewers would suggest tasks for him to complete, and therefore the viewer would run his life. On April 1, 2011, Dan quit the project for personal reasons, and moved on to vlog/news show "Delicious Steak," which originally aired from July 12, 2011 – May 6, 2012. On May 6, 2012 Dan released a video called "The Last Episode Of Delicious Steak", in which he explained that he is no longer committed to a "show", but rather making videos as a hobby.

Since May 2012, he has reinvented his video style to heavily focus on current affairs and political or moral debates, utilizing his viewership to provoke and take part in discussions, including topics such as gun law, healthcare, drug legislation, same-sex marriage, and online media. The reaction to this change has been positive. In May 2016, Dan took an indefinite hiatus from Pogobat in order to focus on education and other employment opportunities. He currently works for XPogo.

Inferno (2016 film)

Inferno is a 2016 American action mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by David Koepp, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Dan Brown. The film is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009), and is the third installment in the Robert Langdon film series. It stars Tom Hanks, reprising his role as Robert Langdon, alongside Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster, and Irrfan Khan. Together with the previous film, it remains Hanks' only live-action sequel.

Filming began on April 27, 2015, in Venice, Italy, and wrapped on July 21, 2015, in Budapest. The film premiered in Florence on October 9, 2016, and was released in the United States on October 28, 2016, ten years after release of The Da Vinci Code, in 2D and IMAX formats. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $220 million against a production budget of $75 million.

Inferno (Brown novel)

Inferno is a 2013 mystery thriller novel by American author Dan Brown and the fourth book in his Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol. The book was published on May 14, 2013, ten years after publication of The Da Vinci Code (2003), by Doubleday. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction and Combined Print & E-book fiction for the first eleven weeks of its release, and also remained on the list of E-book fiction for the first seventeen weeks of its release. A film adaptation was released in the United States on October 28, 2016.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It follows "symbologist" Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu after a murder in the Louvre Museum in Paris causes them to become involved in a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus Christ having been a companion to Mary Magdalene.

The title of the novel refers to the finding of the first murder victim in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed similar to Leonardo da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a mathematical message written beside his body and a pentagram drawn on his chest in his own blood.

The novel explores an alternative religious history, whose central plot point is that the Merovingian kings of France were descended from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene, ideas derived from Clive Prince's The Templar Revelation (1997) and books by Margaret Starbird. The book also refers to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) though Dan Brown has stated that it was not used as research material.

The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church, and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.

The novel nonetheless became a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009 and has been translated into 44 languages.

Combining the detective, thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, it is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel Angels & Demons. In November 2004, Random House published a Special Illustrated Edition with 160 illustrations. In 2006, a film adaptation was released by Columbia Pictures.

The Da Vinci Code (film)

The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown's 2003 best-selling novel of the same name. The first in the Robert Langdon film series, the film stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Jean Reno, and Paul Bettany. In the film, Robert Langdon, a professor of religious iconography and symbology from Harvard University, is the prime suspect in the grisly and unusual murder of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. In the body, the police find a disconcerting cipher and start an investigation. A noted British Grail historian named Sir Leigh Teabing tells them that the actual Holy Grail is explicitly encoded in Leonardo da Vinci's wall painting, The Last Supper. Also searching for the Grail is a secret cabal within Opus Dei, an actual prelature of the Holy See, who wish to keep the true Grail a secret to prevent the destruction of Christianity.

The film, like the book, was considered controversial. It was met with especially harsh criticism by the Roman Catholic Church for the accusation that it is behind a two-thousand-year-old cover-up concerning what the Holy Grail really is and the concept that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and that the union produced a daughter, and for its treatment of the organizations Priory of Sion and Opus Dei. Many members urged the laity to boycott the film. In the book, Dan Brown states that the Priory of Sion and "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate".

The film grossed $224 million in its worldwide opening weekend and a total of $758 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2006, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. The film received generally negative reviews from critics. It was followed by two sequels, Angels & Demons (2009) and Inferno (2016).

The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol is a 2009 novel written by American writer Dan Brown. It is a thriller set in Washington, D.C., after the events of The Da Vinci Code, and relies on Freemasonry for both its recurring theme and its major characters.Released on September 15, 2009, it is the third Brown novel to involve the character of Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon, following 2000's Angels & Demons and 2003's The Da Vinci Code. It had a first printing of 6.5 million (5 million in North America, 1.5 million in the UK), the largest in Doubleday history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the U.S., the UK and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction for the first six weeks of its release, and remained on the list for 29 weeks. As of January 2013, there were 30 million copies in print worldwide.

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