Da Vinci Code: The Movie

While I was looking forward to The Da Vinci Code as a movie anyway, after the two major announcements this week, I am even more enthused with the prospects of this film.

For those that missed the announcements, an agreement in principle has been reached to allow filming inside the Louvre:

French officials are close to giving Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard the final go-ahead to shoot scenes of his big-screen adaptation of author Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code in the famed museum, according to published reports.

"There is really a very strong desire to see the movie for this book, which has world renown, shot in the Louvre," the Louvre's director, Henri Loyrette was quoted as telling France-Inter radio. "It is a yes in principle from our side."

And equally exciting, in my opinion, is that Ron Howard has selected Audrey Tautou to star as Sophie Neveu opposite Tom Hanks' Robert Langdon:

Winsome French actress Audrey Tautou of "Amelie" fame has been chosen to play Tom Hanks' partner in cracking "The Da Vinci Code" in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel, the newspaper Le Parisien reported Saturday.

According to the daily, Tautou is to play the role of Sophie Neveu, the investigator who helps Robert Langdon (Hanks), a symbologist, solve the murder of an elderly member of an ancient society that has protected dark secrets since the early years of Christianity.