Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/765720
The previous two films had been very successful so the expectation for the next one was high. This time, the challenge would be making it on a smaller budget, but still being faithful to the story and retaining the scope of its predecessors. Location choices were a careful balance between actual places and constructed sets on stage and on location in Budapest. This film would have an edgier and more visually stylistic tone than the previous two films, with more handheld camera work. The screenplay has Professor Langdon (Tom Hanks) suffering with a concussion, having been grazed by a bullet. This enhances his state of mind by creating some great flashbacks and dream sequences that add visceral texture to the story. For instance, scenes are reenacted from Giorgio Vasari's painting of the Battle of Marciano in the Palazzo Vecchio, and other scenes are based on a version of Botticelli's Mappa dell'Inferno, that would play in amongst contemporary backdrops on location. Inferno, the third installment in Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series, charts another journey hunting treasures in a story that travels from Florence to Venice and culminates in a final set piece in Istanbul. Like The De Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, Inferno features the same recurring themes: cryptography, keys, symbols and codes. Unlike so much fictional storytelling where a designer is called upon to create a world from scratch, this piece was the opposite. In Dan Brown's novel and in David Koepp's screenplay, descriptions of artwork, literature, science and historical references are all real. As a result, director Ron Howard and I had to follow the scripted path carefully to navigate the complexities of the narrative. The initial scout was like a treasure hunt, trying to understand the ingenious riddles. We had to work out the logic of what was written on the page, factor in the realities of the physical locations and piece the sizable jigsaw together. Above: A digital sketch of the command center out at sea of the Control Risk Group, an organization with offices across the world that specializes in surveillance and special operations for private clients. Below, left and right: The finished set, nestled in amongst sea containers. A 3D model of the set's structure.