Jean Reno cracks the `Code'

HOLLYWOOD _ Some actors might be insulted at being compared to a bull. Not Jean Reno. The 57-year-old Moroccan-born French actor was flattered that "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown created the character of Bezu Fache, referred to as "the bull" by his subordinates, with Reno in mind.
Reno, who has played his share of cops during his 30-year career, takes the role of Fache, a French police captain investigating a murder at the Louvre, in the upcoming movie adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code." But he didn't know of his connection to the character until he met Brown last year on the set of the suspense thriller.
"He told me during the first two weeks when we were shooting inside the Louvre," recalls Reno, phoning from New York. Brown's revelation made playing the character of Fache more meaningful for the actor. "Can you imagine somebody in the middle of America writing a book with a character in mind that is you?" he wonders aloud. "I felt very touched by that."
It is no wonder that the author of the popular yet controversial work thought of Reno when he was writing it. The internationally known actor has delivered memorable performances in such diverse films as "French Kiss," "Leon (The Professional)," "Ronin," "Mission: Impossible," "Godzilla," "Crimson Rivers" and most recently "The Pink Panther" (playing, yes, a French policeman).
The hulking actor had read Brown's novel several months before Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind") cast him as Fache. But he never imagined himself as that character while reading the book.
"I didn't think of it as a movie," he says. "I read the book as a book and I thought it was an interesting thriller. The ambiance was fantastic (but) I didn't picture anybody in particular in that role."
Once cast, however, Reno was excited at the prospect of working with Howard and two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump").
Hanks plays the central character, Robert Langdon, an American professor who goes in search of the Holy Grail based on clues he discovers within Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpieces.
Reno describes Howard and Hanks, who previously worked together on "Splash" and "Apollo 13," as a great team. "Ron is a very precise director," observes the actor. "He's got an idea of what he wants exactly. At the same time, he lets you free inside the scene. He will correct you, but always with sweetness in his voice and manner."
Reno likens Hanks to a racecar driver. "He can change the details and the emotions in millions of ways," he says. "He seems to do that without any effort, which is the mark of a great actor."
Reno also relished the opportunity to work with French actress Audrey Tautou ("Amelie"), who plays a brilliant cryptologist who helps Langdon decipher