THE CODE WARRIOR.

HANKS, Tom, 1956-; HOWARD, Ron, 1954-; FILMMAKERS; ACTORS; DA Vinci Code, The (Book); DA Vinci Code, The (Film)

This article presents an interview with Oscar award winning actor Tom Hanks and Oscar award wining director Ron Howard about the making of the film version of the novel "The Da Vinci Code." The room's location is so secret -- most studio employees do not have a clue what is really behind that door labeled DENTAL RECORDS on the first floor of the Gene Autry Building -- not even an anagram-obsessed Harvard professor of symbology could discover it. Hanks, 49, and Howard, 52, haven't said much publicly about "The Da Vinci Code" before today. Indeed, the movie -- starring Hanks as that big-brained globe-trotter Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou as the mysterious Sophie Neveu, as well as Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany, and Jean Reno -- was shot and edited under such a shroud of secrecy, nobody knows exactly what to expect when it opens. INSET: Writing the 'Code'.