Enraged Vatican Rallies Opposition, Foul-Mouthed Allies Against 'Angels and Demons'
Nothing suggests a good week to come like the Catholic Church calling out "godless" Hollywood — or, more specifically, rebuking Tom Hanks and the rest of the fork-tongued heathens who had requested access to shoot parts of Angels and Demons in a few of Rome's celebrated cathedrals. The Vatican apparently has yet to get over the whole Jesus-was-married thing from The Da Vinci Code, and the part in Angels and Demons when Hanks's Robert Langdon arrives at Santa Maria della Vittoria "to find a cardinal being set on fire" doesn't seem to help matters:
The scene will now be shot on a soundstage after the diocese of Rome closed its doors against the producers. Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman, said: "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name [of source novelist] Dan Brown was enough."
He added that most films are given permission, as long as they respect the "traditions of the Church." Father Fibbi said: "Angels and Demons peddles a type of fantasy that damages our common religious beliefs, just like The Da Vinci Code did."
A publicist in a priest's collar is still a publicist, so pardon our reach as we get our grain of salt. An absolutely nuclear protest, however, was logged by Jesus of Nazareth director Franco Zeffirelli, who told the Telegraph: "Dan Brown is a rapscallion." Well, we never!! Franco Zeffirelli — still alive! There's the shocker; we knew we'd find news in here somewhere.
[Photo Credit: INF]