{"id":772,"date":"2009-04-20T23:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-20T23:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/04\/ron-howard-slams-william-donohues-silly-and-mean-spirited-work-of-propaganda.html"},"modified":"2009-04-20T23:35:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-20T23:35:00","slug":"ron-howard-slams-william-donohues-silly-and-mean-spirited-work-of-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/04\/ron-howard-slams-william-donohues-silly-and-mean-spirited-work-of-propaganda.html","title":{"rendered":"Ron Howard slams William Donohue’s “silly and mean-spirited work of propaganda”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The director of the upcoming film of Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons”<\/a> has decided to turn his attention to the head of the Catholic League.<\/p>\n

Ron Howard wrote this Monday in the Huffington Post<\/a>: <\/p>\n

William Donohue of the Catholic League is on a mission. Whether it is a “mission from God,” as the Blues Brothers would say, only God knows, but the goal of his mission is clear: to paint me and the movie I directed, Angels & Demons<\/span>, as anti-Catholic.<\/p>\n

For a $5 donation to his organization, Mr. Donohue will send you his glossy new booklet (Angels & Demons: More Demonic Than Angelic), in which he writes that I and the people who made this thriller “do not hide their animus against all things Catholic.”<\/p>\n

He’s been making these assertions for years, going back to the theatrical release of The Da Vinci Code<\/span>. He stepped up his campaign more than a month ago with a series of press releases. And there he goes again, in a Daily News op-ed last Friday, saying that Dan Brown and I “have collaborated in smearing the Catholic Church….”<\/p>\n

Let me be clear: neither I nor Angels & Demons<\/span> are anti-Catholic. And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is: an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome. After all, in Angels & Demons<\/span>, Professor Robert Langdon teams up with the Catholic Church to thwart a vicious attack against the Vatican. What, exactly, is anti-Catholic about that?<\/p>\n

Mr. Donohue’s booklet accuses us of lying when our movie trailer says the Catholic Church ordered a brutal massacre to silence the Illuminati centuries ago. It would be a lie if we had ever suggested our movie is anything other than a work of fiction (if it were a documentary, our talk of massacres would have referenced the Inquisition or the Crusades). And if fictional movies could never take liberties with reality, then there would have been no Ben-Hur<\/span>, no Barabbas<\/span>, The Robe, Gone With The Wind,<\/span> or Titanic<\/span>. Not to mention Splash<\/span>!<\/p>\n

I guess Mr. Donohue and I do have one thing in common: we both like to create fictional tales, as he has done with his silly and mean-spirited work of propaganda. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more at the HP link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PHOTO:<\/b> from Sony Pictures.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The director of the upcoming film of Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons” has decided to turn his attention to the head of the Catholic League. Ron Howard wrote this Monday in the Huffington Post: William Donohue of the Catholic League is on a mission. 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