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Angels & Demons: The Illustrated Movie Companion
Angels & The Illustrated Movie Companion is the only official book hailing the extraordinary filmmakers at the heart of this thought-provoking and totally unorthodox thriller. Reuniting Academy Award® winners Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Tom Hanks, this suspense-filled movie, based on Dan Brown's ticking-bomb novel, sprints through crypts, catacombs, and cathedrals to decipher clues prophesying the mutilation of cardinals with mysterious symbols. The story of how this movie was created is told here through the voices of the filmmakers, who explain the challenges of re-creating exact replicas of some of the world's most exquisite sites, including the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter's Square, and Piazza Navona with Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers , among others. This lavishly illustrated book brims with more than 270 color photographs, including archival images, storyboard art, period paintings, and digital production art; insider's information about the creative process behind the production and scenic design, costumes, set decorations, paintings, sculptures, and props created for the movie by artisans in London, Italy, and Los Angeles; interviews with cast and crew members; a foreword by Dan Brown; and introductions by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Todd Hallowell. Of his firsthand experience on the set of Angels & Demons, Dan Brown writes, "I was privileged to watch some of moviemaking's noblest soldiers as they did daily battle and conquered Herculean forces." Those forces are brought to life in this book that puts you right there on location in Rome, London, and Los Angeles with the novelist and the filmmakers of Angels & Demons .
- GenresNonfiction
160 pages, Hardcover
First published May 5, 2009
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160 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
October 4, 2016
Angels & Demons: The Illustrated Movie Companion was an insightful resource to one of my all-time favorite movies. Although it was not as super great as I was expecting it to be, nonetheless, it was very entertaining, and informative, and many of the info were mind-blowing.
By reading this book, I was completely enthralled by the process the filmmakers proceeded in order to make the movie look so real on the screen—and God, how much they succeeded!
Tom Hanks + Ron Howard + Dan Brown= A great mixture.
By reading this book, I was completely enthralled by the process the filmmakers proceeded in order to make the movie look so real on the screen—and God, how much they succeeded!
Tom Hanks + Ron Howard + Dan Brown= A great mixture.
June 16, 2014
She looked nothing like the bookish physicist he had expected. Lithe and graceful, she was tall with chestnut skin and long black hair that slurred in the backwind of the rotors. Her face was unmistakably Italian – not overly beautiful, but possessing full, earthy features that even at 20 yards, she seemed to exude a raw sensuality.”
Well, does this description make you wish it were yours? I am sure it did. Because so was the case with me.
To put simply, this character is Vittoria Vetra from the celebrated author Dan Brown’s bestseller work, the immaculately sublime novel “ANGELS AND DEMONS”. It is incontrovertible that all the characters he etches so deftly are worth going under the skin of, for as long as it is about the epicsome rhetoric, enigmatic miens, panoramic venues, sequential mysteries and startling plots that he creates, it hardly matters which character, all characters are etched by him with flawless precision and meticulous perfection that wins any and every reader’s heart. His plots are all peppered with a mind-boggling volume of symbols, cryptography, mythology, code-deciphering, surreptitious rendezvous with strangers, et al.
Robert Langdon, the protagonist of the novel who is a strict Harvard professor, a scintillating symbologist who “relishes recreation with an infectious fanaticism”, is no less of a dream character. Yet, I’d rather prefer to accompany him in his quest, and though Vittoria Vetra's character is subsidiary to Langdon, it is so indispensable to the plot, bereft of an iota of doubt.
Now talking about the story, Langdon and Vittoria Vetra are called up by the Vatican to deploy their brilliance and expertise to a situation. And the situation is nothing short of a murder- an excruciatingly nauseating one, at that.
The journey is characterized by bone-crunching forces and mind-numbing revelations. Vittoria Vetra is the CERN scientist who had developed anti-matter, a breakthrough energy source which she was protecting from falling victim to PR fiascos and political envy. As the story unravels, it is found that a vial of antimatter had been stolen by a secret group called “illuminati” and even I the minutest proportions it was capable of doing far more damage than nuclear weapons. At this stage, the story delves deeper into dark alleys of the intersections of literature, science and religion.
What follows is a journey- nothing short of an epic, interspersed with descriptions of the “papal conclave” due to the sudden death of the pope. Langdon attempts to retrace the steps of the "Path of Illumination", a process once used by the Illuminati as a means of inducting new members; aspirants to the order were required to follow a series of subtle clues left in various landmarks in and around Rome. The clues indicate the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. Langdon sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of delivering the Preferiti (the most likely candidates of the papal elections) and recovering the antimatter canister. So he has to decipher the ambigrams, that is with help from Vittoria Vetra. They make deduction regarding the site and manner of death of each of the cardinal. Since its human tendency to be intrigued by matters of life and death, that explains my proclivity to make it true. Here, the W-H-O-L-E Vatican City is at stake. The following quotes are thought-provoking at one level and poignant at another; they work to enrich the text and infuse it with emotions.
ü “Nothing captures human interest more than human tragedy.”
ü “Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? ”
ü “Fear cripples faster than any implement of war.”
ü “Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed.”
ü “If it wasn't painfully difficult, you did it wrong!”
ü “…Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed.”
ü “Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone.”
These sum up the theme too.
So its obvious that I would yearn for this novel to come true (but there’s a twist, I would yearn for this novel to come true with myself in it as Vittoria Vetra.
I would love to experience the thrills and travails, the shocks and adventures myself.) Although while reading too, I got obliviously into the book, yet I’d like to experience all this in three-dimensions- the ecstasy and exhilaration, the adrenaline rush, the earth-shattering revelations. The plot is based in Rome, Italy, which adds to the appeal (and the yearning for it to come true)
Then there’s no single aspect of Vittoria Vetra that makes me wish to emulate her in three-dimension. The fact that she is passionate about her work, brilliant in it too, and all the more considerate about its implications. She possessed an analytical mind, which once calmed was a powerful force, which came useful throughout the various twists and turns of the novel. Her approach towards her work is exemplary. Her deployment of the Buddhist philosophy Remembrance – how creative and yet infallible. Her erudition has an unfailing appeal. Her undying optimism, perseverance and thoughts of pristine clarity endears her all the more to me. Without her the book wouldn’t begin, let alone proceed or end.
Well there has to be something about the book that the aforementioned lines still reverberate in my mind-
“From Santi's earthly tomb with demon's hole,
'Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold.
The path of light is laid, the sacred test,
Let angels guide you on your lofty quest.”
Well, does this description make you wish it were yours? I am sure it did. Because so was the case with me.
To put simply, this character is Vittoria Vetra from the celebrated author Dan Brown’s bestseller work, the immaculately sublime novel “ANGELS AND DEMONS”. It is incontrovertible that all the characters he etches so deftly are worth going under the skin of, for as long as it is about the epicsome rhetoric, enigmatic miens, panoramic venues, sequential mysteries and startling plots that he creates, it hardly matters which character, all characters are etched by him with flawless precision and meticulous perfection that wins any and every reader’s heart. His plots are all peppered with a mind-boggling volume of symbols, cryptography, mythology, code-deciphering, surreptitious rendezvous with strangers, et al.
Robert Langdon, the protagonist of the novel who is a strict Harvard professor, a scintillating symbologist who “relishes recreation with an infectious fanaticism”, is no less of a dream character. Yet, I’d rather prefer to accompany him in his quest, and though Vittoria Vetra's character is subsidiary to Langdon, it is so indispensable to the plot, bereft of an iota of doubt.
Now talking about the story, Langdon and Vittoria Vetra are called up by the Vatican to deploy their brilliance and expertise to a situation. And the situation is nothing short of a murder- an excruciatingly nauseating one, at that.
The journey is characterized by bone-crunching forces and mind-numbing revelations. Vittoria Vetra is the CERN scientist who had developed anti-matter, a breakthrough energy source which she was protecting from falling victim to PR fiascos and political envy. As the story unravels, it is found that a vial of antimatter had been stolen by a secret group called “illuminati” and even I the minutest proportions it was capable of doing far more damage than nuclear weapons. At this stage, the story delves deeper into dark alleys of the intersections of literature, science and religion.
What follows is a journey- nothing short of an epic, interspersed with descriptions of the “papal conclave” due to the sudden death of the pope. Langdon attempts to retrace the steps of the "Path of Illumination", a process once used by the Illuminati as a means of inducting new members; aspirants to the order were required to follow a series of subtle clues left in various landmarks in and around Rome. The clues indicate the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. Langdon sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of delivering the Preferiti (the most likely candidates of the papal elections) and recovering the antimatter canister. So he has to decipher the ambigrams, that is with help from Vittoria Vetra. They make deduction regarding the site and manner of death of each of the cardinal. Since its human tendency to be intrigued by matters of life and death, that explains my proclivity to make it true. Here, the W-H-O-L-E Vatican City is at stake. The following quotes are thought-provoking at one level and poignant at another; they work to enrich the text and infuse it with emotions.
ü “Nothing captures human interest more than human tragedy.”
ü “Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? ”
ü “Fear cripples faster than any implement of war.”
ü “Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed.”
ü “If it wasn't painfully difficult, you did it wrong!”
ü “…Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed.”
ü “Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone.”
These sum up the theme too.
So its obvious that I would yearn for this novel to come true (but there’s a twist, I would yearn for this novel to come true with myself in it as Vittoria Vetra.
I would love to experience the thrills and travails, the shocks and adventures myself.) Although while reading too, I got obliviously into the book, yet I’d like to experience all this in three-dimensions- the ecstasy and exhilaration, the adrenaline rush, the earth-shattering revelations. The plot is based in Rome, Italy, which adds to the appeal (and the yearning for it to come true)
Then there’s no single aspect of Vittoria Vetra that makes me wish to emulate her in three-dimension. The fact that she is passionate about her work, brilliant in it too, and all the more considerate about its implications. She possessed an analytical mind, which once calmed was a powerful force, which came useful throughout the various twists and turns of the novel. Her approach towards her work is exemplary. Her deployment of the Buddhist philosophy Remembrance – how creative and yet infallible. Her erudition has an unfailing appeal. Her undying optimism, perseverance and thoughts of pristine clarity endears her all the more to me. Without her the book wouldn’t begin, let alone proceed or end.
Well there has to be something about the book that the aforementioned lines still reverberate in my mind-
“From Santi's earthly tomb with demon's hole,
'Cross Rome the mystic elements unfold.
The path of light is laid, the sacred test,
Let angels guide you on your lofty quest.”
January 8, 2011
Haters to the left. The endless descriptions of Vittoria Vetra's body and almond scented hair were annoying but on the whole this was a good guilty pleasure read.
June 17, 2017
The book faithfully registers the tremendous work hidden behind the production of the film Angel and Demons from costumes, ledgers to re-creating reality such as the Sixtine Chapel, the Vatican Archive, Santa Maria del Popolo, the Fountain of Four Rivers and even St Peter Square!
January 12, 2011
I really enjoyed "Angel's and Demons". Although I wish I waited to watch the movie AFTER the book, it was still thrilling and full of excitement. I loved how the author let readers in on both Dr. Langdon's and the mysterious assassin's point of view. It made me want to solve the case before the book did. I squirmed in my seat as the clock counted down for the time when the anti-matter would explode. The only thing that I found a little annoying was the romance between Dr. Langdon and Vittoria Vetra. At times I found myself shouting in my head, "Oh C'mon Dr. Langdon! The entire city is about to explode and all you can worry about is how amazing Vittoria looks in those shorts!?". Although Dr. Langdon frustrated me at times it was a good read that I would absolutely reccomend to others.
July 21, 2009
Loved this book, 100 times better than the movie. The illustrations help explain a lot of the arts and history.
June 2, 2010
best of Dan brown
September 15, 2010
I learned about the secret cult of Galileo and the secret brotherhood of Illuminati.
September 15, 2010
Angels & Demons is a highly enjoyable read with thrillers and mysteries full of strange bits of information that tie everything together.
January 19, 2011
this is a very interesting book. you would never expect the ending. you will constantly be at the edge of your seats. i recommend this book to people who like to read mystery thriller.
May 13, 2014
História dinâmica, sempre melhor que o filme, onde nos ensina sempre curiosidades históricas que me eram desconhecidas. Junta historia, ficção e assassinato numa só obra.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2012
Hard to anticipate the ending, a constant treat
February 15, 2014
it's a good book
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews