I've been working on a 3D digital model of the "cryptex" from the movie "The Da Vinci Code". My goal was to try to get as close as I can to the screen-used dimensions and functionality. There's a beautiful replica made by Nobel. But when you compare it to the screen used prop, there's a number of things they got wrong.
Finding reliable reference shots of the REAL crypto was tough. While a dozen or so of these were made for production, they don't seem to be hitting auctions very often. And there's some fakes out there. I was able to get screen grabs from a behind the scenes video of the prop master showing off the cryptex. I was also able to find a couple images on Getty showing a blonde woman holding and opening the cryptex from an auction site.
The cryptex is generally agreed upon to be 6" long. From this I was able to extrapolate a number of dimensions.
In that same video, they also pan by a blueprint of each of the stacked shapes that make up the complex assemblies at each end of the body. This allowed me to build this entire system out accurately.
So, what did Nobel get wrong? A few things:
Finding reliable reference shots of the REAL crypto was tough. While a dozen or so of these were made for production, they don't seem to be hitting auctions very often. And there's some fakes out there. I was able to get screen grabs from a behind the scenes video of the prop master showing off the cryptex. I was also able to find a couple images on Getty showing a blonde woman holding and opening the cryptex from an auction site.
The cryptex is generally agreed upon to be 6" long. From this I was able to extrapolate a number of dimensions.
In that same video, they also pan by a blueprint of each of the stacked shapes that make up the complex assemblies at each end of the body. This allowed me to build this entire system out accurately.
So, what did Nobel get wrong? A few things:
- The "inner tube" that slides out is MUCH smaller diameter than the Nobel.
- The "key" portion of the inner tube only has two tabs on it. So the screen-used prop only locked on the last two letters. Which makes sense for a screen prop. Tom Hanks only had to line up the last two letters,
- When the Nobel cryptex opens, it takes a larger portion of the body with it, including the end ring with the engravings. The real cryptex only had the end ring attached when it opened.
