Inferno: Ron Howard on Book Changes and The Lost Symbol

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‘Inferno’: Ron Howard on Book Changes and Why They Didn’t Make ‘The Lost Symbol'

By Steven Weintraub

Published Oct 24, 2016

The filmmaker also discusses how the film has a strong antagonist with a legitimate reason for doing what he’s doing.

Last week, Sony Pictures unveiled the world premiere of Ron Howard’s upcoming movie Inferno in Florence, Italy. The film marks the third in the Robert Langdon franchise, following 2006’s The Da Vinci Code and 2009’s Angels & Demons, and finds Tom Hanks returning as the franchise’s hero. In Inferno, Dr. Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia and must team up with Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) to recover his memories and stop a madman from unleashing a plague inspired by Dante’s Inferno. Inferno also stars Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, and Sidse Babett Knudsen.

inferno-tom-hanks-irrfan-khan — Image via Columbia Pictures

A few hours before the premiere, I got to sit down with Ron Howard for an exclusive video interview. Originally the interview was going to be situated overlooking the city and you’d be able to see the highlights of Florence behind them. But on the day of the interview, the weather was cold and rainy, and at the last second the location had to be brought indoors. However, while the rain might have been falling outside, Howard was in great spirits and was ready to talk. During the interview he revealed why they made Inferno instead of The Lost Symbol, the reasons for changing the ending of the book, how the film has a strong antagonist with a legitimate reason for doing what he’s doing, and more.

Check out what he had to say in the video above and below you’ll find a breakdown of what we talked about along with the official synopsis. Inferno is in theaters October 28th.

inferno-tom-hanks-felicity-jones — Image via Columbia Pictures

Ron Howard:

How his daughter is always great in interviews.
Why did they move away from The Lost Symbol and make Inferno?
Has he called Dan Brown and tried to get him to write a story about NASA and the space program?
Why did he change the book ending for the movie?
How the film has a strong antagonist with a legitimate reason for doing what he’s doing.

Here’s the official synopsis for Inferno:

Academy Award® winner Ron Howard returns to direct the latest bestseller in Dan Brown’s (Da Vinci Code) billion-dollar Robert Langdon series, Inferno, which finds the famous symbologist (again played by Tom Hanks) on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population.