Chirac keen to help movie makers

Jacques Chirac

French President Jacques Chirac offered to help makers of the Da Vinci Code film in the Louvre, and suggested they cast his daughter's best friend in the leading female role, says Newsweek.

"We thought it was going to be a five-minute thing, like a trip to the Oval Office - a photo and a handshake," said producer Brian Grazer of the hour-long meeting he and director Ron Howard had at Chirac's office in December 2004.

Newsweek said Chirac offered to smooth out any problem they might encounter in their request to film some scenes at the Louvre - where the Da Vinci Code's murder-and-religion mystery begins and ends.

Chirac also suggested his daughter's best friend - whom Newsweek describes as "an actress of some acclaim in France" - for the film's leading female role, which went to Audrey Tautou.