Opie's Angels & Demons - Pictures in the Sistine Chapel

So Opie has fired a salvo back at the Holy See. I guess he's kind of frustrated at the debunking of his latest film Angels & Demons so maybe he figures to generate some stink as a promotion for the film.


Ron Howard: Vatican Obstructed 'Angels and Demons':

At a press conference Sunday, Howard said he hadn't sought cooperation from the Vatican based on the opposition he encountered filming "The Da Vinci Code," another Brown novel that angered many Catholic leaders.

But he said the Vatican nevertheless exerted influence regarding his filming permits, and he was told it would not be possible even to shoot scenes in Rome that had churches in the background.
"When you come to film in Rome, the official statement to you is that the Vatican has no influence," he said. "Everything progressed very smoothly, but unofficially a couple of days before we were to start filming in several of our locations, it was explained to us that through back channels and so forth that the Vatican had exerted some influence."
"Was I surprised? No. Am I a little frustrated at times? Sure," he said.

Nevertheless he said he felt that he was able to preserve the overall "Angels & Demons" experience despite the restrictions by recreating scenes on sets. For the Sistine Chapel alone, some 20 members of the production crew — posing as tourists — took photos of all the frescoes, floor mosaics and paintings of the tiny chapel where popes are elected — until they were told to stop, the film's Web site says.
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So let me get this right. 20 members of of the production crew pretended to be tourist to take 'illegal' pictures inside the Sistine Chapel so they could create the sets necessary. Anything for an Oscar Awards hit movie I guess.

I guess it doesn't matter if taking pictures in the chapel is prohibited for reasons that it my contribute to the decay of the art and paintings. But hay what the heck.

Maybe the Vatican 'obstructed' the use of certain scene shots in locations sensitive to cameras and bright lights. Protecting 100's of year old art is considered obstruction. Ya-right.

Angels and Demons - 'Mwu-ahahah...'

Andrew Leigh writes this analysis of the Ron Howard/Dan Brown book to movie "Angels and Demons" due out this month.

He goes through the age old arguments, "It's just entertainment", " Don't knock if if you haven't seen it yet", "It's fact mixed in with a story of fiction"

Excellent, enjoy the read.

CAUTION: The article has a movie spoiler, however it's probably best to go over these finer point of the movie (aka book) before you pay your $10.00 to see it.

Ron Howard's 'Demon' Defense Doesn't Hold Water
...
Here’s an understatement for you: Not everybody likes William Donohue. Whereas some admire him as a passionate defender of the faith, others view him as a hectoring, self-righteous censor, with a tendency to get red-faced and a bit shouty when locking horns on one of the ubiquitous news talk shows.
Howard, of course, is always calm and collected. Besides, he’s Opie; and who doesn’t like Opie? So I enter this fray with the greatest trepidation, fully expecting to regret every minute of it.
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Angels & Demons - Here we go again

Science and Religion seems to be at the core of this hallucination. Dan Brown and Ron Howard's new movie Angels and Demons is soon to hit the local theaters on May 15th.

Already the bookstores are dedicating major displays (shrines) to the Brown classics.

Anyway, Carl Olsen of InsightScoop did a marvelous job of debunking the Da Vinci Code. He has a new post on the upcoming Angels and Demons release, which he does an equally fabulous job.

Where Angels (& Demons) Fear to Tread

The astounding success of The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown’s fourth novel, first published in the spring of 2003, is well known. The numbers are incredible: Over 60 million copies of the controversial novel have sold worldwide, in over 40 languages, with millions of copies of Brown’s previous three novels following fast in the wake of its success. A major motion picture was released in May 2006, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. It grossed over $240 million in the United States and nearly $760 million worldwide, making it the 26th most profitable movie of all time, ahead of such films as Forrest Gump, The Sixth Sense, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Brown, Howard, and Hanks are now back, this time with the sequel (actually a prequel) to The Da Vinci Code. Angels & Demons, based on Brown’s second novel, which was published in 2000, opens in theaters on May 15 and is expected to be one of the top-grossing films of the year. It also figures to be controversial. The film features the return of Robert Langdon, the Harvard “symbologist” who revealed the alleged fact that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had descendents. It focuses on the Catholic Church and the election of a (fictional) pope, and pontificates—so to speak—on the relationship between science and religion.Despite The Da Vinci Code movie’s worldwide commercial success, it was generally panned by critics, who complained that the movie was clumsy, plodding, and confusing. Some understood this was because the movie followed the book so faithfully. Apparently the producers came to the same realization. “I think we may have been too reverential toward it,” producer Brian Grazer told USA Today in October 2008. “We got all the facts of the book right, but the movie was a little long and stagey.” He promised that Angels & Demons will be different. “Langdon doesn’t stop and give a speech,” Grazer said, “When he speaks, he’s in motion.”
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