SCOTLAND IS CASHING IN on the success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code:

Star role for Scots chapel in Da Vinci Code film

WILLIAM LYONS
ARTS CORRESPONDENT
wlyons@scotlandonsunday.com

HOLLYWOOD is coming to Midlothian. An 11th hour deal has been struck that will bring filming of the blockbuster movie based on the bestselling book The Da Vinci Code to Rosslyn Chapel.

The genteel village of Roslin is now preparing for an invasion of A-list celebrities when Tom Hanks, who plays the book�s hero Professor Robert Langdon, and Am�lie star Audrey Tautou fly in for an eight-day shoot in August.

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Since The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003, visitor numbers at the 15th-century chapel have risen by 56%, but it is hoped a substantial sum can be raised from the shoot itself. Last year almost 70,000 people visited the building in Midlothian, making it one of the country�s most popular tourist attractions.

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As well as the chapel, The Da Vinci Code could be worth millions for Scottish tourism. Harry Potter fans have flocked to the west Highlands to see locations, and 18% of visitors from the United States cited films as a factor in their decision to come to Scotland in a survey in 1996, the year after Braveheart was released.

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Ah well, at least it's good for the Scottish economy. On the positive side, The Da Vinci Code is good for tourism and is likely to get people interested in biblical-related history and even perhaps get some bright young people interested in the field as a vocation. (Since my interest in what I do now was sparked by Erich Von Daniken's dreadful books, I shouldn't discount this factor.) But the negative side of The Da Vinci Code is, of course, that it's bogus.