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Digital Sets•VFX
Visual e ects studios create CG explosions and virtual
environments for Angels & Demons
By Barbara Robertson
t
he clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time
bomb hidden somewhere in Rome. Only one man, Har-
vard religious expert Robert Langdon, can distinguish an-
gels from demons and fi nd the bomb in time to prevent an
attack on the Catholic Church. To do so, Langdon must get
inside the Vatican's archives to discover the path to illumina-
tion. But, the Church does not hold the questioning symbolo-
gist dear to its heart.
e Catholic Church didn't hold dear the fi lmmakers who
had also made the movie e Da Vinci Code, either. Based on
the controversial novel by Dan Brown, the 2006 fi lm directed
by Ron Howard had sparked harsh criticism from the Roman
Catholic Church before its release. us, well before post-
production had wrapped on that fi lm, Angus Bickerton, vi-
sual eff ects supervisor, began preparing for Columbia Pictures'
Angels & Demons, Brown's prequel turned into a sequel.
June 2009 38
