Before The Da Vinci Code there was The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Yes, the last time Tom Hanks took on a literary cultural phenomenon, he hoped to reign supreme as “the Master of the Universe.”
Only 1990’s Vanities was destined to become a textbook example of how not to adapt a popular and beloved best-seller. The mistakes were many, beginning with hiring Scarface’s Brian De Palma to direct Tom Wolfe’s satire about the go-go 1980s. And the charming and affable Hanks had no business portraying unsympathetic investment banker Sherman McCoy.
No wonder Vanities inevitably ended up as Hanks’ Ishtar.
- Forrest Gump $329.6 million
- Cast Away $233.6 million
- Saving Private Ryan $216.5 million
- Apollo 13 $173.8 million
- Catch Me If You Can $164.6 million
Luckily, Hanks‘ Everyman persona allowed him to bounce back with A League of Their Own, the first of his 13 blockbusters to earn more than $100 million between 1992 and 2004. And let’s not forget the Oscars wins, deservedly for Philadelphia and undeservedly for Forrest Gump.
Hanks knew he taking a gamble by playing McCoy in Vanities, according to The Devil*s Candy, Julie Salamon’s chronicle of Vanities‘ disastrous shoot. So it can only be assumed that he’s learned a valuable lesson from Vanities, that he would not involved himself in The Da Vinci Code if he felt he couldn’t pull off the role of symbologist Robert Langdon.
- The Man With One Red Shoe $8.6 million
- The Bonfire of the Vanities $15.6 million
- Volunteers $19.8 million
- Punchline $21 million
- That Thing You Do! $25.8 million
OK, so Hanks isn’t the first actor who comes to mind to play our hero. Author Dan Brown even writes that Langdon looks like “Harrison Ford in Harris tweed.” (Coming off the flop Firewall, Ford probably wishes he could have worn Harris Tweed for what should be a summer blockbuster.)
But that doesn’t matter. unlike Vanities, when Hanks’ casting raised eyebrows, there was never a sense of outrage when he accepted the role of Langdon. Maybe it’s because Hanks has established himself as a thoughtful–if unconventional–man of action with Saving Private Ryan and Road to Perdition. Sure, he’s a little stiff to begin with as Langdon, but he soon relaxes and ends up having a lot of fun with the role.
Also, Hanks is working again with director Ron Howard. Together, they have already enjoyed critical and commercial success with Apollo 13 and Splash. There’s no reason to believe the third time won’t be a charm, even with the controversy surrounding the film, from the plagiarism suit against Brown to protests by Opus Dei, the Catholic lay group that’s depicted as a sinister sect in the book.
That said, The Da Vinci Code is quite laborious until Ian McKellen arrives to thankfully bring some panache to the proceedings. But Howard‘s film remains quite faithful to the book, and as that will certainly please Brown’s loyal readers, Hanks will doubtless celebrate his first live-action smash since 2002’s Catch Me if You Can.
- Toy Story 2 $245.8 million
- Toy Story $191.7 million
- The Polar Express $173.6 million
On the slight chance that The Da Vinci Code fails to meet expectations, Hanks doesn’t have as much to lose as he hoped to gain with Vanities. Hanks wanted Vanities to prove he was capable of playing more than just a boy trapped in a man’s body, according to The Devil’s Candy. Thanks to his post-Vanities Oscar victories, he’s now considered one of our best dramatic actors, and a flop on the scale of The Da Vinci Code certainly won’t tarnish his well-earned reputation.
But after suffering disappointing responses to two offbeat comedies The Terminal ($77.8 million) and The Ladykillers ($39.7 million), Hanks must quickly put an end to his mini-slump. He especially doesn’t need The Da Vinci Code to tank–however unlikely that is–after Entertainment Weekly just named him one of Hollywood’s surefire bets at the box office. That would just be plain embarrassing.
The Bottom Line
The Da Vinci Code isn’t the next The Bonfire of the Vanities–it should collect more money on its first day than Vanities did during its entire run. And that means Hanks won’t have to fret about screwing up the adaptation of another best-seller that sits on everyone’s nightstand.
