The Name of the Rose (film) The Name of the Rose (film) The Name of the Rose is a 1986 Italian-French-German mystery historical drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the book of the same name by Umberto Eco. Sean Connery stars as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Christian Slater is his apprentice Adso of Melk; they are called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval abbey. As an old man, Adso of Melk recounts how, in 1327, as a young Franciscan novice (a Benedictine one in the novel), he and his mentor, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, traveled to a
The Name of the Rose (film) distinctive faces. He resisted suggestions to cast Sean Connery for the part of William because he felt that the character, who was already an amalgam of Sherlock Holmes and William of Occam, would become too overwhelming with "007" added. Later, after Annaud failed to find another actor he liked for the part, he was won over by Connery's reading, but Eco was dismayed by the casting choice and Columbia Pictures pulled out, as Connery's career was then in a slump. Christian Slater was cast through a large-scale audition of teenage boys. For the wordless scene in which the Girl seduces