According to The Hollywood Reporter, French film star Jean Reno has joined Tom Hanks in Columbia Pictures' upcoming film adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.

Reno will play gruff detective Bezu Fache to Hanks' famed symbologist Robert Langdon in the film version of the novel that has dominated the best seller list for almost two years.

Scheduled to begin production in 2005 for a May 19, 2006 release, The Da Vinci Code will be directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman.

Reno, who stars opposite Steve Martin in the soon-to-be-released remake of The Pink Panther, has appeared in numerous Hollywood films including Mission: Impossible, Ronin, the 1998 remake of Godzilla and such French films as Subway, The Big Blue, La Femme Nikita and Les Visiteurs.

The Da Vinci Code was released May 19th, 2006 and stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Jürgen Prochnow, Jean-Yves Berteloot. The film is directed by Ron Howard.