( CNN ) -- `` The Da Vinci Code , '' a film based on a novel from Dan Brown , opened three years ago amid controversy and protests . Now , a new film based on another Brown novel , `` Angels and Demons , '' opened on Friday . Ron Howard and Tom Hanks spoke with Larry King on Friday about their new film , `` Angels and Demons . '' Larry King talked with the star of the movie , Tom Hanks , and its director , Ron Howard , about whether the new film will spark more controversy . The following is an edited version of the interview . Larry King : Ron , you held the world premiere in Rome , where the church is kind of sensitive about this . Why there ? Ron Howard : The premiere screening was actually scheduled to be in one location . And about , I do n't know , a week or so before we were supposed to have the premiere , the Vatican asked them not to let us use that facility . So we shifted it somewhere else . But otherwise , all went smoothly . Watch Hanks , Howard discuss filming in Rome » . King : Tom , you have kind of put your stamp on this : `` Angels and Demons , '' `` Da Vinci Code . '' What attracted you to the project ? Tom Hanks : Well , the intelligence and , I think , in some ways , the ambivalence of the character of Robert Langdon . He 's a very smart guy . He 's probably the only symbologist in the world , and his reading of the symbols , the history , is pushed through this sieve of knowledge that takes emotion and faith possibly out of any of the equations . He can look at something that would mean one thing to one culture , and it means something completely different in modern times or depending on what other culture it is . So as a selfish actor , it 's great fun to play somebody as smart as Robert Langer . King : Was it a tough script to remember ? Hanks : Well , you get into some pretty fascinating rigmarole . But , as we can all attest , we all end up having sort of like a seminar on all of these topics . We sit around for hours and discuss things like particle physics and what 's it mean and the history of the Illuminati and who was and who was not a member of it . King : Ron , does controversy -- and this film has it -- help or hurt ? Howard : I think it helps . In fact , it 's part of what 's interesting about what Dan Brown writes is , you know , it 's thought-provoking stuff . Now , in `` Da Vinci Code , '' really , the controversial ideas were driving the movie more than the action , more than the suspense . It really was about presenting those ideas and making the argument for them and stirring that thought . This has its ideas , and it is smart and intelligent and interesting . But I would say that it 's reversed . I think that the mystery , the code breaking , the thriller nature of it is , from a directorial standpoint , really out in front . Still , you know , it has its ideas . They are controversial . At least it gives people something to talk about and think about on the way home if they want to . King : Tom , as I understand it , `` Angels and Demons '' was written before `` Da Vinci Code , '' right ? Hanks : Yes . It was written so long ago , in fact , that there was no Internet , there was no Google . Dan Brown , for some reason , presented the election of the pope as a minor story that is not really covered by the world 's media . So it had some innate , I would n't say inaccuracies , but things that were taken out of time . It required a substantial amount of adaptation to the way life works in 2009 . King : : Ron , does it bug you when many people in the Vatican , in the church , complain about the movie without having seen it or just basing it on they do n't like Dan Brown ? Howard : Well , you said it , Larry . I 'm fully prepared to accept any criticism based on the movie . But , you know , it 's absolutely frustrating if they 're making an assumption . The idea here is to take any work of fiction , to build a thriller around a time when the church is in conclave . It 's a heightened moment , and we all know that , at various times , the church , as any major institution experiences , has been compromised . And so some of the virtues are threatened by the personal agendas of those within it , and that 's very human . In fact , you can read all about it in the Vatican bookstore . They 'll tell you in history , you know , all about the number of times that that kind of thing has happened . So , Dan took inspiration from that kind of a circumstance and , I think , created a really interesting , exciting movie .
Ron Howard : Controversy helps new film , `` Angels and Demons '' Tom Hanks reprises `` Da Vinci Code '' role of Robert Langdon , a symbology expert . Comment: