Da Vinci Code Actor McKellan: Bible as Much "Fiction" as Movie

MRC

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

Da Vinci Code actor: Bible as much "fiction" as the movie. In a Wednesday Today session in Cannes, France with actors and producers of the Da Vinci Code movie, Matt Lauer asked about how, given how many want the movie to be clearly labeled "fiction," they would have "felt if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie? Would it have been okay with you?" Actor Ian McKellen replied: "Well I've often thought that the, the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying, this is fiction. I mean walking on water? I mean it takes an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie. Not that it's true, not that it's factual but that it's a jolly good story and I, I think, I think audiences are clever enough and bright enough to separate out, separate out fact and fiction and discuss the thing when they've seen it." Unfazed by McKellan's slam at the Bible, Lauer moved ahead with his agenda: "Would it have mattered to the rest of you? Would it have bothered you if there had been a disclaimer?"

     The MRC's Geoff Dickens provided this transcript of the relevant portion of the 8am half hour outdoor segment on the May 17 Today:

     Matt Lauer: "Let me ask you all to jump in on this. There have been calls for some religious groups. They wanted a disclaimer at, at the beginning of this movie saying it is fiction because, again, one of the themes in the book really knocks Christianity right on its ear. If Christ survived the Crucifixion he did not die for our sins and therefore was not resurrected. Tom's looking like, 'what?'"
     Tom Hanks: "Was that in the book?"
     Lauer: "But what I'm saying, people wanted us to say, 'fiction, fiction, fiction.' How would you have all felt if there was a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie? Would it have been okay with you?"
     Sir Ian McKellen: "Well I've often thought that the, the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying, this is fiction. I mean walking on water? I mean it takes an act of faith. And I have faith in this movie. Not that it's true, not that it's factual but that it's a jolly good story and I, I think, I think audiences are clever enough and bright enough to separate out, separate out fact and fiction and discuss the thing when they've seen it."
     Lauer: "Would it have mattered to the rest of you? Would it have bothered you if there had been a disclaimer?"
     Alfred Molina: "The, the movie's job isn't to be true to be real, the movie's job is to be as plausible and as authentic as, as it can be. And like all good fiction it's underpinned by elements that are plausible and authentic and, and, and, and again like all good fiction it makes the, it provokes the audience into asking what if?"
     Ron Howard: "You know and, and, and you know when you do a thriller which this is. This is mystery thriller. It's, it's, you know it's about something unfolding and of course there is a disclaimer. As, as, as in all works of fiction it's on the end of the movie but you wouldn't start off a spy thriller or a, or, or a story about, you know intrigue in the White House by saying this, this couldn't happen. You want the audience to lose themselves in it and then trust the audience they're gonna take what ideas that interest them or not and deal with it later."
     Lauer: "Is, is this a case where if people's faith is shaken by this movie the faith probably wasn't strong enough to begin with?"
     McKellen: "There ya go."
     Lauer: "Is that how you look at it?"
     Molina: "Yeah."

     On the MRC's NewsBusters blog on Wednesday morning, Mark Finkelstein posted an item about McKellan's take on the Bible, to which the MRC's Michelle Humphrey added video: newsbusters.org

     The DrudgeReport.com picked up the item, leading to a big visitor day to NewsBusters, and to ABC's World News Tonight featuring McKellan's comment.

     In a Wednesday World News Tonight story on the controversy surrounding the movie based on a novel, Jake Tapper noted: "Today at the Cannes film festival in France, the creators of the film tried to quell the controversy."
     Tom Hanks: "This is not a documentary. This is not something that is pulled up and says, 'these are the facts. And this is exactly what happened.'"
     Tapper: "Though one actor's comment seems likely to only inflame matters."
     Ian McKellan on NBC's Today: "Well, I'd often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer at the front saying, 'this is fiction.'"

     The Real and Windows Media video, as well as MP3 audio, will be added to the posted version of this item. In the meantime, check the NewsBusters posting or the MRC's "Hear & See the Bias" page of videos: www.mrc.org

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

[frogjerk]

Question: Are there any other theories/research in "The Da Vinci Code" that are not already in "Holy Blood, Holy Grail"?

[Kenny Bunkport]

Ron Howard: "You know and, and, and you know..."

He sounds like Hillary Clinton.

[rockabyebaby]

Ron Howard: "You know and, and, and you It's, it's, you know it's As, as, as in all works of fiction or a, or, or a story about, you know

WTH???????????? Hello? Ron??? Talk much???????????

[Kenny Bunkport]

Maybe Aunt Bea needs to slap him upside the head.

[rockabyebaby]

LOL! good one!

[Revolting cat!]

Loosers on the lose!

[MikeA]

I didn't get too worked up about the content of the film. It is only a work of fiction afterall. But this comment by McKellan, and all to make him feel better about living a sinful lifestyle i.e. homosexuality, is offensive and rank, so I will NOT be seeing this movie or any other film starring this Euro trash jerk. Not to mention, the reviews of DaVinci have been abysmal. I hope this thing crashes and burns. But I doubt it will. The same idiots who bitch about high gas prices will have no problem paying $10 a ticket plus another $20 for snacks to see a really poor film.

[NImerc]

I'm shocked.

Shocked that we didn't even get one "I'm proud to be gay." from McKellan. That guy is usually good for 20-30 "I'm proud to be gay"-s an hour.

[hsalaw]

Who cares what actors think about anything?

[Kenny Bunkport]

Actors think?

[jla]

The sodomites generally have a problem with the Holy Bible. Must be those pesky passages about a man lying with another man being an abomination.

[Argus]

Isn't Tom Hanks supposed to be a Catholic? How's he square that with the movie, and how come Lauer didn't ask him?

Agh, it's a puff interview for another forgettable flick.

[mmercier]

Another nitwit trying to put paint on this pig and keep the movie in the news.

The book was not even that good, the movie is likely worse.

I hope they loose their nuts on this one, just because of the multi angle hype that has been generated.

[Calpernia]

Just as long as no Korans hit the toilet on the set!

[pogo101]

If you're so sure the Bible is fiction, Sir Ian, then why do you proudly proclaim that you tear pages of Leviticus out of it?

"Whenever I stay in a hotel I always check to see if they have a Gideon Bible, and if they do I tear out a page," the veteran actor told New York gossipist Baird Jones at the premiere party for the film "Iris," which stars both Kate Winslet and Judy Dench as the late writer Iris Murdoch. "I turn to Leviticus 18:22 and rip out that page which is directed against homosexuals; it is one of the Leviticus Laws. I don't know if anyone ever even notices, but I really take exception to that section and I think by now I must have ripped out a few hundred pages."

Vandalism-shmandalism, the way McKellen sees it, he's doing it for the good of humanity.

"Who knows? There might be someone who has insomnia who stays awake all night who reads the Bible because they have nothing else to do and who might be especially vulnerable to what I really think is Leviticus' pornography," he says, "so I just remove it."

But it's not a totally selfless act. "Helps me to get to sleep better," he says. "I'll say that much."

[mjp]

Well I've often thought that the, the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying, this is fiction. I mean walking on water? I mean it takes an act of faith.

Typical modernist Scripture scholarship is not objective or neutral historical and textual scholarship. It is eisegesis (reading into) rather than exegesis (reading out of); it reads a particular modern worldview - naturalism, denial of the supernatural and miracles - into the texts, and judges the texts on the basis of that worldview.

[FJ290]

If you're so sure the Bible is fiction, Sir Ian, then why do you proudly proclaim that you tear pages of Leviticus out of it?

Because Sir Ian is as gay as they come and that's why he tears pages out of Leviticus.

McKellen, an admitted homosexual, later explained that the theater introduced him to other gay men, which eased his acceptance of his own sexuality. He became a vocal activist, and one of a handful of openly gay knights when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1989.

In 1993, he became recognizable to American television audiences playing gay men in And the Band Played On and Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, two acclaimed TV miniseries; McKellen earned an Emmy nomination for his work in the former.

http://tribute.ca/bio.asp?id=2373

This may be a fact you already know, so I apologize in advance if you are already aware of his homosexuality. I imagine Sir Ian really hates Leviticus since that's the book where there is some VERY strong condemnation of homosexuality.

[RepoGirl]

I wonder if he would ever admit to defacing a Koran? Since I've never read it, I don't know if it mentions homosexuality or not--but I don't believe the Muslims are that keen on the whole man-on-man thing. It's so much safer to beat up on the Bible--less beheadings.

[sasportas]

If Christ survived the Crucifixion he did not die for our sins and therefore was not resurrected. Tom's looking like, 'what?'"

Yeah, Tom Hanks and a lot of FReepers who think it is a lot to do about nothing.

1 Corinthians 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

No big deal, all this movie means is that with no validation of Christ's resurrection, there is no possibility of us any of us being redeemed from sin. No big deal...only to an unbeliever and to an atheist.