'Angels & Demons' May Face Vatican Boycott

hollywoodreporter.com:

The Vatican could be gearing up for an official call for a boycott of "Angels & Demons," Ron Howard's big-budget follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code."

Avvenire, the Vatican's official newspaper, ran a story in Friday's edition noting that the Church "cannot approve" of such a problematic film. The Turin daily La Stampa, meanwhile, said the Vatican would soon call for a boycott of the film, though the same article also quoted Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, who warned against a "boomerang effect" that could call attention to the film and eventually make it more popular.

Read the whole story: hollywoodreporter.com

Comments

[staciek]

03:54 PM on 04/14/2009

Ive learned there's an Italian actor playing character Father Simeon in Angels and Demons this character IS NOT IN THE BOOK--was added to the film and he causes quite the twist etc.

He's famous in Italy ...quite a good looking man!
His name is Cosimo Fusco ....wonder if this changes the book/film and how....?

[EHigh]

09:04 AM on 03/31/2009

My 2 sons were supposed to be Catholic. I actually wanted to marry their mother bad enough to foolishly make that promise to a creep litte priest with whom I sincerely would not leave my sons alone. Well, I had to go back on my word and it's one of the best thing I could have ever done for my kids. I don't consider it the best because Catholicism is not so important that avoiding it would rate that highly. But, it would have been disservice to my children to devote them unwillingly to a bunch of dogmatic hogwash and superstitious nonsense.

[EHigh]

08:38 AM on 03/31/2009

Love good Catholics. My wife is half Japanese. Her father is Catholic and his family verrrry Catholic. They will not speak to my wife nor acknowledge her existence because her mother was budhist. It's created a rift in what could have been a wonderful family. Recently, my wife's friend of over 30 yrs told my wife that she could not be the Godmother of the friend's daughter. Someone who the friend had known for a few months was chose. Why? Because my wife is NOT Catholic. I don't condone hate on any level. But, I do understand the words my wife has for the Pope and the lie that exists in Rome. What was once the Holy Roman Empire is still indicative of the old Roman hierarchy that fraudulently adopted Christianity so they could stay in power. Why do you think you superstitious freaks celebrate pagan holidays and most of you are too ignorant of Catholicism's history to even realize it, lol? The vatican is a joke and so is the pope.

[Steamboater]

04:08 PM on 03/24/2009

I can't understand why Hanks would make this crap. The first film was terrible and so was the book and so is this. As for the Vatican, who cares what they think?

[marijam]

06:50 PM on 03/24/2009

Really? Both books were on the best seller list for months.

[Steamboater]

07:39 PM on 03/24/2009

You have to be kidding. So are a lot of crap books. A best seller listing doesn't make for a good book. Rush Limbaugh has been on the best seller list along with Bill O'Reilly and a lot of fiction writers who write junk.

[sodulguy]

02:07 PM on 03/24/2009

I just wish they would stick to commenting on silly stuff like movies and not tell poor uneducated people that condoms cause aids.

[TedB]

12:02 PM on 03/24/2009

It's free publicity.

“I don't care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right.”
-George M. Cohan

[Retrofuturistic]

11:11 AM on 03/24/2009

This is the same attitude they exhibited when they burned all the writings of the ancient world, in order to avoid competition for Christian belief, causing the world to lose all the knowledge, science, and literature of the ancients.

The book burners are still alive and are still thriving, despite the passage of time. They have not enlarged their minds. And now there are more of them--- especially in the Catholic Church, the Republican Party, and all evangelical fundamentalists in all religions.

Anyone who allows himself to be banned from a book, or banned from the consideration of anything, is cooperating in the self-limiting of the reach of his own mind.

[PJBroughton]

08:19 AM on 03/24/2009

I cannot approve of such problematic works of fiction as the Catholic Church.

Both books are a great read, however "Angels and Demons" is a better story. I hope the screen adaptation of this book is better than the last.

[kapalabhati]

07:16 AM on 03/24/2009

A boycott endorsed by the folks who recently proclaimed that condoms don't prevent AIDS. A bit of a credibility problem. The only reason I would boycott it is that the first film was an unbearably bad adaptation of a book I read three times and would read three more. Paul Bettany's performance of the creepy monk was its only saving grace. HA! Unintended pun!

[AN2009]

02:49 AM on 03/24/2009

Calls for a boycott will only make the film more popular. I'm still going to see it regardless of what the pope says. Vatican officials should focus on more important things like rebuilding relations with Muslims and Jews.

[Dannydel]

09:42 PM on 03/23/2009

The Pope. The one guy who knows less about women and sex than probably anyone, telling us not to use condoms. Rich.

[Steamboater]

04:10 PM on 03/24/2009

The pope should just put a condom over his head and go away.

[Citizen-Jane]

09:28 PM on 03/23/2009

Oh-oh it's on. A fiction and entertainment writer vs. an institution based on fiction and entertainment.

[Sarahmay57]

05:04 PM on 03/23/2009

So, what, do you get ex-communicated if you see the movie? God forbid anyone to make their own decisions about these things...

And so it is...

[MsLilyBe]

07:17 PM on 03/23/2009

And even if you do get excommunicated all you have to do is deny the Holocaust and they'll let you back in!

L

[KayWrites]

03:25 PM on 03/23/2009

At this point the Vatican has about as much credibility as Bushie boy. And Brown writes entertaining fiction. So I'll be seeing Angels and Demons.

[AmbivalentGuy]

12:15 PM on 03/23/2009

Who cares. As noted, it's just free publicity.

My problem is that people think that there is
some sort of truth in all that distorted nonsense.

Brown is about as believable as Ickes or von Danikan.

They both know how to make money out pure BS though.

[viewfromuphere]

12:41 PM on 03/23/2009

Brown writes fiction and knows it...Von Danikan believed his BS....

I'm sick to death of the Vatican....the Pope runs around telling his flock to beware of witches but put not your faith in condoms as a weapon against AIDS...

so somebody wants to take Brown's fictional world as gospel..fill your boots...certainly not as damaging as the Vatican's take on the world...

[AmbivalentGuy]

12:47 PM on 03/23/2009

Good point, but many people don't realize how fictitious Brown's work is.

On the other hand, believing Brown is really not as dangerous as believing
the Vatican, and frankly, not as entertaining as Von Danikan (I have a weakness
"Pyrimidiots" going back to Piazza Smith).

[PJBroughton]

08:36 AM on 03/24/2009

The Bible is also a work of fiction.
I find it disturbing that some people think there is some sort of truth in all that distorted nonsense.
I've never heard of anyone using one Brown's novels as an excuse to torture, murder, and supress people over the course of a millennium.

[AmbivalentGuy]

12:03 PM on 03/24/2009

All true.
I guess I just don't like a book that you do.