Posted on 05/03/2009 6:57:52 PM PDT by Steelfish
Ron Howard: Vatican obstructed 'Angels & Demons'
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer May 3, 2009
Director Ron Howard claimed Sunday that the Vatican interfered with efforts to get permits to shoot certain scenes of his "Angels & Demons" religious thriller in Rome — a charge the Vatican said was purely a publicity stunt.
The film, which stars Tom Hanks and is based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, has its world premiere Monday in Rome.
"Angels & Demons" combines an ancient secret brotherhood called the Illuminati, a papal conclave and a high-tech weapon threatening to destroy the Vatican.
But [Howard] 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Forgive me if you are aware of the term “useful idiot” but for those who are not, and are wondering how it applies to Ron Howard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot
Yup, totally agree.
On top of that, his "Beautiful Mind" turned John Nash's thesis 100% backwards: Opie turned what is in reality a theory about maximizing winning through competition and knowledge of your competitor's strategy into some kind of "everyone wins by cooperating" kum-bay-yah BS.
Love Bill Donohue. He wants a debate with “dopey Opie.
I think he was more wise in the ways of the world as 6-year-old Opie Taylor than he is today, at 50+.
Somewhere Aunt Bee weeps...
Aunt Bea was a nut, too.
I know in real life she hated Andy Griffith.
“Warning: if you’re a fan of the Andy Griffith Show like I am,”
...I’ve gone as far as visiting Andy’s hometown in NC last year with my wife and kids. I’m a HUGH fan of the show. The Andy Griffith Show is/was one of the few escapes that I had from the reality of Obama. Watching a half hour of it would help me relax and forget the Marxism. This is a truly sad video. Don’t know where to turn now.
You can watch episodes of Andy Griffith and other old sitcoms free online at TVLand.com:
http://www.tvland.com/fullepisodes/
Of course the Vatican should exert influence to stop ppl who want to go there and defile the Catholic religion.
I cannot stand liberals who think that there is Freedom of Speech, until we say something they don’t like.
You would think that their conscience would eventually start to work on them, and they would feel a bit sheepish for their attacks on the church and back off.
We are blessed to know the truth. Unfortunately there are too many lost souls out there who choose to stay lost.
Gee, Ronnie, I’m sure the Jewish authorities would give you full access to historical Jerusalem sites to film, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” And Obama would cooperate fully if you wanted to film, “Birth of a Nation” at the White House.
And God knows you were so innocent, having fake tourists sneak into the Vatican to take all that footage.
Rot in Hell, Ron Howard. Oh, wait, you pretty much assured that already, didn’t you?
It’s a no-brainer: Die.
Yeah, you’re an idiot, all right.
Dan Brown has insisted that the horrors he attributes to the Catholic Church are the truth, and the book is designed to get people to accept as fact the background assertions. Most people who have read the book accept as fact the majority of the most evil assertions.
Kinda makes you wonder if Ron Howard wasn’t the inspiration for Anakin Skywalker. (Come on, Darth Vader wasn’t. Darth Vader of the original trilogy was bad-ass. Anakin was whiny, inarticulate, dopey, and he turned to horrific evil because he had one bad dweam.)
Most people who have read the book accept as fact the majority of the most evil assertions.
_______
Always nice to be in the minority.
A fun (if very predictable) beach read. Nothing more nothing less.
That’s the trick. Most people think they haven’t bought into any of the hooey either.
Ron Howard can’t write his way out of a paper bag, either... I read Angels and Demons one day cause one of my friends who was studying physics said it might interest me, and about three chapters in I was thinking “OMG, this guy is the biggest hack I have EVER read!” and that’s including the cheesy, teen ‘Twilight’ vampire book series (which is of horribly low quality, and is even worse than some of its own fanfics).
I don’t blame the Vatican for refusing, not only on religious principles, but on the fact that I wouldn’t want to be affiliated with something of that low quality even if it supported my religion or whatever.
Oh, sorry, I meant to say Dan Brown couldn’t write his way out of a paper bag, implying that not only can the director not really direct, but he’s basing everything on the attempts of a writer who can’t really write. It’s like a recipe for failure.
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