Inferno's Tom Hanks and Ron Howard wished they could have experienced hell at Haw Par Villa

SINGAPORE – When Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard were in Singapore in June to promote their movie, Inferno, the third in a series of films based on Dan Brown’s novels, they goggled in absolute amazement when we brought up the fact that we, too, are familiar with what hell looks like thanks to Haw Par Villa.

“I wish we had time to go there,” said Howard wistfully, after we explained the theme park’s 10 Courts Of Hell contained scenes of torture and punishment — a fun day out for the whole family.

“Inferno”, after all, refers to the fires of Hell — specifically, hell as conceptualised by Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy, the theme around which the movie revolves. In the new film, Professor Robert Langdon, Hanks’ now-iconic character, wakes up with amnesia in a hospital in Italy, and has to team up with a doctor (played by Felicity Jones) to follow Dante-inspired clues and stop a global virus from being unleashed.

Langdon’s new nemesis is a scientist (played by Ben Foster) intent on solving the world’s overpopulation problem through extreme measures; on his team is Harry Sims “The Provost”, played by Indian actor Irrfan Khan.

HELL IS STUPID PEOPLE?

Like Haw Par Villa’s unique selling point, the whole question of hellfire in the film raises questions about fear as an effective motivator, and whether the ends always justify the means. How far would they agree with the existentialist maxim that “Hell is other people”, as the issue of overpopulation implies? (Not forgetting that during the press conferences and red carpet events, they would have had to shake hands, make small talk and take selfies with a thousand people, including us pesky journalists?)

Chuckling, Hanks said: “I disagree with that. The formula I’ve been using is, 49 per cent of the people in the world are stupid, but 51 per cent of them are smart and are hell-bent on doing good.”

He continued: “I think that the hell we’ve seen that is possible to create here on earth is almost always enveloped in a brand of ignorance about what to do with the world, about what to do with our resources, about what laws to impose, what behaviour to demand. And there are places on this earth, not too far away from here, that we know are equal to hell. There are people living in filth. There are people living with disease. There are people who you could say are (undergoing) the equivalent of being tormented by demons and they can’t get out of that. It’s a vicious circle that constantly repeats, like one of Dante’s circles of hell. But on the other hand, you have enough people, I think, who are looking at problems using their intellect and are willing to pursue solutions to these things that keep the planet Earth just one step above being equal to Dante’s hell. So, I think hell is ignorance.”

Irrfan Khan thinks that hell is laziness. “Religion can be misused by people because we are so lazy, we don’t understand the significance of our own religion; of our own traditions,” he said. “We just do the ritual without knowing the meaning of it.” He added, “You can be led into anything if you are lazy.”

“I think mental illness is hell,” said Howard. “If you’re schizophrenic, I think you’re living in hell. That is a form of isolation and a total lack of trust.”

HEAVEN IS MAKING MOVIES?

Happily, making Inferno was anything but hell. In fact, Hanks said, Professor Langdon is an entirely easy role to play.

“There’s no trick to it. It requires no work. The roles all speak for themselves. The truth is, I wouldn’t be involved if it didn’t strike my fancy from the get-go. I’m very selfish, too,” Hanks quipped. “Robert Langdon is a fabulous character to play. He’s got no baggage. He’s smart. Everybody says, ‘Oh, the symbologist is here’ every time he walks into a room, so everybody’s paying attention to me.”

Furthermore, Hanks and Howard have developed an easy working relationship since they first collaborated on the movie Splash in 1984, as well as the first two films adapted from Dan Brown’s novels, The Da Vinci Code in 2006 and Angels And Demons in 2009.

“I love collaborating with people who can make the story better; who can make me better,” said Howard of Hanks. “He has always had a kind of humility about and a great respect for the process, and a great work ethic. He also has great taste. Wonderful instincts.”

About his director, Hanks said: “I sensed in him a guy that was following his instinctive fire… We both went into (movie-making) because it’s the most fun you can have and there’s nothing better, I think, than going home at the end of the day wondering how you’re going to shoot tomorrow’s scene. It’s a great burden. It makes us feel alive.”

But there’s one thing the two can’t see eye to eye on, and that’s who has the better job. “He once said to me, ‘I think being a director is the greatest job in the world because everybody’s asking you questions and you’ve got to give them answers.’ I said he was nuts,” Hanks said. “The greatest job in the world is being an actor because you don’t have to answer any questions. You just have to do it.”

They say hell is different things to different people; apparently, heaven is, too.

Inferno opens in cinemas Oct 13.