- French President Jacques Chirac's office denied a report that he pushed for a family friend to be the leading lady of "The Da Vinci Code", when he met with the movie's makers last year. The film's American director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer were invited to meet the French president in December last year as they were holding auditions in Paris for the top female role. "They discussed a certain number of their acquaintances, such as Audrey Tautou, Paul Newman, Michele Laroque, Gregory Peck or Jean Reno, but without linking them to the casting of the film," a...