Dan Brown Among Buyers Left Stranded as Luxury Anguilla Resort Flounders
Before the recession, times were good for developers and real estate salesmen on the island of Anguilla in the British West Indies. The Temenos Residence Resort charged clients such as bestselling author Dan Brown seven-figures for beautiful properties on the beach. But now that the crash has hit, construction has come to a screeching halt and buyers may be facing big losses. The resort has defaulted on its $180 million mortgage and can't find the $125 million in financing to finish the project. The owners will most likely have to sue to get their deposits back, but there is no guarantee that the company still has the money. The WSJ's Kris Hudson reports:
Dan Brown, the bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code, talks to Matt Lauer about the sequel, The Lost Symbol. Dan is speaking from his cool new library in his new home in the New Hampshire woods. The library has secret doors, secret symbols and props from the movies. The Lost Symbol went on sale at midnight last night and is expected to be a huge bestseller. In this interview Dan talks about why it took him so long to write the sequel to The Da Vinci Code, how he stays anonymous when he does his research and how he hangs upside down when he gets writer's block. Take a look:
Da Vinci Code Sequel, The Lost Symbol, Arrives September 15th
At last! Doubleday has finally announced that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown will be published on September 15, 2009. The new book is entitled The Lost Symbol. The Da Vinci Code was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, with 81 million copies in print worldwide.
The Lost Symbol will have a first printing of 5 million copies, and it will once again feature symbologist Robert Langdon, who was played by Tom Hanks in the film version of The Da Vinci Code. The announcement was made today by Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
"This is a great day for readers and booksellers," said Mehta."The Lost Symbol is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown's prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait."
Dan's editor, Jason Kaufman who is the Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday said, "Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book's narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan's readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises."
Dan had this to say about the book, which fans have been waiting on for years:
"This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey. "Weaving five years of research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."
We can't wait to read it. Amazon.com is offering the book at nearly 50% off the cover price for preorders.
Some new stills from Angels and Demons are out and we were filled with joy to see that Tom Hanks has cut his hair. The long hair he wore in The Da Vinci Code was just ghastly. A shorter haircut will help his character symbologist Robert Langdon solve the mystery must faster. Well, at any rate he certainly looks a lot better.
Angels and Demons is based on the bestselling book by Dan Brown which was published before The Da Vinci Code. Much of the book is set in Rome at the Vatican. The Vatican is so grumpy about the film that it got director Ron Howards permits to film revoked at many locations in Rome.
Producer Brian Grazer
swears
that this film will be better than The Da Vinci Code and that Tom Hanks' hairstyle is far superior to the one he wore in the last film:
"It's totally different" from Hanks' slicked-back coif of the original, insists producer Brian Grazer. "It's better. Everything is more contemporary. "
The adaptation of Dan Brown's novel continues the sleuthing adventures of Robert Langdon (Hanks), a Harvard expert in religious symbols who discovers a conspiracy to destroy the Vatican.
Da Vinci collected $758 million worldwide, but even Grazer says the movie moved a little slowly. Angels, by contrast, sprints from crypts, catacombs and cathedrals.
In adapting the hugely successful Da Vinci novel, "I think we may have been too reverential toward it," Grazer says. "We got all the facts of the book right, but the movie was a little long and stagey."
In Angels, opening May 15, "Langdon doesn't stop and give a speech," Grazer says. "When he speaks, he's in motion."
Set in and around the Vatican, Brown's Angels includes the murders of cardinals, who are mutilated with mysterious symbols. Church officials banned the crew from shooting in key locales, sometimes revoking permits that had been approved, Grazer says.
*****
That doesn't mean Angels won't generate any controversy. The film centers on an act of terrorism at the Vatican and examines the tension between science and faith.
"We're living in a world that's much more unstable," Grazer says. "Therefore, our energy is focused on belief. This looks at what would happen when you have an act of terrorism designed to undermine that belief."
Despite the contemporary topics, Grazer says the movie has no political undertones. "Both parties, through different means, don't want terrorism to exist in the world," he says.
We're looking forward to seeing the film. There's no official word when Dan Brown will publish the next book in the series, The Solomon Key, but rumors say it will coincide with the release date of the Angels and Demons film, May 15, 2009.
Fine art is appearing in several recent books and movies including the #1 New York Times bestselling thriller by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, which now has over 5 million copies in print. Other recent books or films with art themes include The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier, Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts, Girl With a Pearl Earring starring Scarlett Johansson and The Stendhal Syndrome, an upcoming broadway play.
At last! Doubleday has finally announced that the sequel to The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown will be published on September 15, 2009. The new book is entitled The Lost Symbol. The Da Vinci Code was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, with 81 million copies in print worldwide.
