You would think it'd be hard to impress an actor such as Tom Hanks, who has won back-to-back Oscars and whose domestic box office totals exceed $3.3 billion. However, in a recent interview with the online German news magazine Bild.com, Hanks spoke very highly of his Angels & Demons German co-star, Armin Mueller-Stahl (Eastern Promises), who plays Cardinal Strauss in the film:
I am in total awe of him. I can learn so much from him. He is one of the greatest actors of our time.
Hanks reprises the role of Robert Langdon, Harvard University symbologist, in this sequel to The Da Vinci Code. In Angels & Demons, Langdon discovers evidence that the ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati has plans to use anti-matter to kill several Roman Catholic cardinals and destroy St. Peter's Basilica. Langdon and a beautiful Italian scientist, Vittoria Vetra, played by Ayelet Zurer, travel the world, following a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols in an effort to save the Vatican.
Angels & Demons is directed by Ron Howard and also stars Ewan McGregor as Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca and Stellan Skarsgård as Commander Rocher.