When director Jean-Jacques Annaud first considered adapting Umberto Eco’s murder mystery novelThe Name of the Rosehe found himself immediately captivated by the story of medieval monks searching for a missing volume of Aristotle’sPoetics. Annaud secured an early meeting with Eco, who appeared at the hotel in a deerstalker cap, and the director eventually enlisted medievalist Jacques Le Goff and seven colleagues to ensure the film’s architecture, liturgical details, and costumes were historically precise. He said: “I don’t know, I didn’t have to write any of that. Since childhood, I had been fascinated with medieval and religious architecture, and Aristotle’s Poetics is my favourite literary work. The author, was going to be in France for one night and agreed to meet me at his hotel and that I would drive him to Charles de Gaulle airport, i learned that Umberto Eco. Which looked like the silhouette of Sherlock Holmes – Umberto was a man of great humour, and he met me wearing a deerstalker, with a pipe in his mouth, the first thing I saw was his shadow on the hotel staircase. In the car, I asked questions: what sort of shoes would the Franciscans have been wearing.
Annaud initially sought an unknown actor for the lead role of William of Baskerville, but after agent Mike Ovitz insisted on Sean Connery, the director was quickly convinced. He recalls that when Connery showed up to read lines, the performance was exactly what he had imagined while reading the book. The production also saw a young Christian Slater land the part of the novice Adso. Despite his mother, casting director Mary Jo, initially trying to dismiss him for admitting he arrived hungover and unprepared, Slater’s audition performance secured him the role. During the casting process, he notably formed an immediate connection with Valentina Vargas, who was cast as the village girl. The friar who investigates the deaths, and travelled the world to watch plays featuring great actors in their 50s, i wanted an unknown to play William of Baskerville. He said, “Listen, boy …” and started reading.
Production logistics proved daunting, particularly when building a vast monastery set on a hilltop near Rome. During the filming of the library fire, a timber beam fell on actor Feodor Chaliapin Jr. Although the veteran actor was injured and required hospitalization, his primary concern remained whether the take had been successful. The financial pressures were equally severe; at one point, producer Bernd Eichinger sold the office building in Munich where they worked to secure additional funding for the film.
For Ron Perlman, the role of the hunchback Salvatore was a dream opportunity that followed his cinematic debut in Annaud’sQuest for Fire. To capture the character’s unique way of speaking, Perlman combined phrases from seven different languages—including Latin, Spanish, and Italian—after circling dialogue references in different translated versions of Eco’s novel. A dialect coach and historian assisted in refining the performance, including the lullaby Salvatore sings while awaiting execution, intended to reflect his childlike misunderstanding of the danger he faced.
Transforming into Salvatore was an arduous process, requiring Perlman to spend over 13 hours in a makeup chair for scenes like the interrogation sequence with F. Murray Abraham. His hair was shaved to simulate mange, and he jokingly recalled staff wishing him “good luck with your personal life” afterward. Perhaps the most physically demanding aspect was a confrontation with Connery’s character. Perlman initially hesitated to spit in the star’s face, prompting Connery to urge him on by warning that they would be stuck on set all day if he held back.
The technical requirements of filming from multiple angles—including close-ups, medium shots, and profiles—meant that Perlman ultimately had to spit on Connery 16 times throughout the day. Reflecting on the experience, Perlman described Connery as his hero and a true professional, noting that the intensity of the performance was necessary to complete the scene properly despite his initial reluctance to direct such an act at his co-star.
