Like its predecessor, “The Da Vinci Code”, which created a tourism frenzy in Scotland and France, "Angels and Demons" already has tourists flocking to Rome, Italy. All this week, Ellen has been recapping her recent Rome Field Trip which is blessedly free of any "Angels and Demons" mentions. But we understand that there are some of you out there who need to retrace Robert Langdon's steps across the Eternal City.

But if you care less about where the movie is supposed to take place and more about where it was actually filmed, then you’re better off catching the next flight to Los Angeles then a flight to Rome. Most of the film was actually made on a sound stage in L.A., thanks to the Catholic Church’s hatred for all things Dan Brown. ]]> cmb 2009-05-15T13:42:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/14/85239/2823

Moviegoers will come back down from space this weekend with the opening of Ron Howard's movie adaptation of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons novel.

While the film is largely set in Rome, just about every European locale is looking for their own way to cash in on secret society-obsessed tourists. One of the most prominent examples of this is to be found in Portugal, which has its own spooky Knights Templar history to show off. ]]> BS 2009-05-14T11:05:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/29/192456/142

Who knew one man's horrible haircut could cast such a long shadow? Tom Hanks may have shed his greasy "professorial" mop from "The Da Vinci Code", but with posters for "Angels & Demons" suddenly appearing on the sides of buses everywhere, we fear for not only our own souls, but also for the soul of Rome, the city in which we are informed the movie is set.

The prequel features "symbologist" Robert Langdon running around making Secret Connections to everything, and was written to take place largely in the Vatican. Despite the Church banning director Ron Howard from filming in Vatican City, "Angels & Demons" tours have been springing up all over the place as local operators take advantage of American tourists' willingness to believe anything as long as they read it in a paperback thriller. We haven't read the book yet, so we've crossed these kind of adventures off our list... but what to replace them with?]]> egw 2009-04-30T11:41:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/3/30/51051/1479

The Eternal City has a love/hate relationship with Dan Brown productions, especially in their cinematic incarnations. On one hand the Vatican is pretty pissed about how Angels and Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, is filled with feverish conspiratorial idiocy. They actually went so far as to ban the filmmakers from using the Church's Rome locations, complicating the producers' endeavor to "set the film in Rome."

On the other hand: tourist dollars! ]]> Omri 2009-03-30T09:11:30-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/30/163810/75

The trailer for the film "Angels and Demons" just came out, and you'd think they'd actually shot it in Vatican City. But Ron Howard's cast and crew were locked out of the Holy See because church officials didn't really care for "The Da Vinci Code."

Instead, a mock-up St. Peter's Square was built in LA for filming. Producers also got access to the super-swanky Royal Palace in Caserta, Italy to use as a stand-in for interior shots.

Real Vatican or not, there's no doubt that the film will inspire a new batch of movie tourists, eager to see the place that the Illuminati are supposedly trying to destroy with antimatter. The film opens May 15, 2009.

Related Stories:
· Vatican City Is Rebuilt in LA [Telegraph]
· Vatican Bans Da Vinci Code Sequel [Telegraph]
· Movie Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-10-30T16:38:10-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/