JAPAN: Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard defend their latest film "Angels & Demons"

Record ID: 386130

  • Title: JAPAN: Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard defend their latest film "Angels & Demons"
  • Date: 8th May 2009
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (MAY 07, 2009) (REUTERS) JAPANESE FANS WAITING DURING AN "ANGELS & DEMONS" FILM PREMIERE EVENT IN JAPAN JAPANESE FANS WAITING HOLLYWOOD ACTOR TOM HANKS, STARRING AS SYMBOLOGIST ROBERT LANGDON IN HIS LATEST FILM "ANGELS & DEMONS", TALKING TO THE PRESS HANKS TALKING HANKS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM HANKS, STARRING AS SYMBOLOGIST ROBERT LANGDON IN HIS LATEST FILM "ANGELS & DEMONS", SAYING: "We were ahead of the game because we knew that this was not "controversial". We knew that this was pretty straight forward story and the previous film we've been through so much talking about I don't know, we're interpreting history and what have you and nobody you know, there were no riots after the first one, nobody's mind would change, everybody survived very nicely and the church is still here and people still showing up to go to the movies so we never felt as though 'oh we're gonna have to wrestle with the with the controversial problems'. We just knew that it was probably gonna be difficult in order to shoot, where it would be nice to shoot." CAMERA SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM HANKS, STARRING AS SYMBOLOGIST ROBERT LANGDON IN HIS LATEST FILM "ANGELS & DEMONS", SAYING: "I'm very glad that he's finished the third book. I'm looking forward to reading it. The bad news is it's gonna cost me 24 dollars and 95 cents because he's not giving them away for free. I will find out what is in that book as long with the rest of the world and we'll figure out if there's movie in it or not." FANS WAITING AND HANKS WAIVING AT HIS FANS MORE OF FANS WAITING AND HANKS SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS HANKS BEING SURROUNDED BY FANS HANKS, DIRECTOR RON HOWARD, ACTRESS AYELET ZURER AND PRODUCER BRIAN GRAZER SITTING DURING AN "ANGELS & DEMONS" NEWS CONFERENCE IN TOKYO (SOUNDBITE) (English) RON HOWARD, DIRECTOR OF "ANGELS & DEMONS", SAYING: "When I became serious about Da Vinci Code, a number of people whom I really expect, really respect quietly came to me and said 'you shouldn't do that, it's it's you're going to, you're just going to stirr up trouble and films are difficult enough without all that,' and it forced me to really way my own convictions about the ideas that were either in the novel or that I felt that it could be translated to film, knowing that I wasn't be going to be able to please the entire audience that it was going to anger some people." "ANGELS & DEMONS" FILM POSTER HANKS, HOWARD, ZURER AND GRAZER BOWING TO THE PRESS
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YSA4LLBSYRLMO8SEB3YHWSVV
  • Story Text: After exposing a Church cover-up in "The Da Vinci Code,"
    symbologist Robert Langdon returns to the big screen as an unlikely Vatican ally in the latest movie adaptation of a novel by author Dan Brown.
    "Angels & Demons," again starring Tom Hanks as Langdon and directed by Ron Howard, premiered in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday (May 7) after its premiere in Rome.
    Flying fresh from Rome, "Angels & Demons" cast and crew led by Hanks walked on the red carpet while over a hundred Japanese fans screamed and waved.
    In Tokyo, Hanks and Howard both continued to defend the film from criticism that it smears the Roman Catholic Church, heightening an ongoing battle over fictional depictions of the Vatican.
    "We were ahead of the game because we knew that this was not "controversial". We knew that this was pretty straight forward story and the previous film we've been through so much talking about I don't know, we're interpreting history and what have you and nobody you know, there were no riots after the first one, nobody's mind would change, everybody survived very nicely and the church is still here and people still showing up to go to the movies," Hanks told Reuters on the red carpet. "We never felt as though 'oh we're gonna have to wrestle with the with the controversial problems'. We just knew that it was probably gonna be difficult in order to shoot, where it would be nice to shoot," he added.
    The Rome archdiocese refused the film crew the right to shoot in historic churches, forcing the crew to recreate them in Los Angeles.
    But despite the controversy, Hanks said he is ready to do another sequel now that Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", has finished writing up his third novel.
    "I'm very glad that he's finished the third book. I'm looking forward to reading it. The bad news is it's gonna cost me 24 dollars and 95 cents because he's not giving them away for free. I will find out what is in that book as long with the rest of the world and we'll figure out if there's movie in it or not," said Hanks.
    "Angels & Demons" has so far avoided the kind of broadside the Vatican aimed at The Da Vinci Code film in 2005 and 2006.
    The cast and crew also held a brief news conference in Tokyo on Thursday (May 7) as Howard also shrugged off the critisicm saying that he had learned so much from making "The Da Vinci Code".
    "When I became serious about Da Vinci Code, a number of people whom I really expect, really respect quietly came to me and said 'you shouldn't do that. You're just going to stirr up trouble and films are difficult enough without all that,' and it forced me to really way my own convictions about the ideas that were either in the novel or that I felt that it could be translated to film, knowing that I wasn't be going to be able to please the entire audience that it was going to anger some people,"
    Howard told a news conference.
    Howard previously posted a blog at The Huffington Post website saying that neither he nor his new movie "Angels & Demons" are anti-Catholic.
    In response to a premiere of "Angels & Demons" in Rome, The Vatican newspaper said on Wednesday (May 6) that the success of books and films like "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons"
    should make the Catholic Church rethink the way it uses the media to present itself.
    The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, ran two editorials on the film premiere in Rome, ending an official institutional silence on the film. The editorials neither panned nor praised the film but rather offered up a mix of positive and negative comments.
    One of the editorials called the film "ephemeral" but also conceded that it was "gripping" and called the camera work "splendid." It called the film "pretentious" but added that Howard's direction was "dynamic and alluring."
    Unlike its reception of The Da Vinci Code, the Vatican was officially silent in the run-up to "Angels & Demons," perhaps because its condemnation of "The Da Vinci Code" prompted an incalculable amount of free publicity that boosted box office sales.
    "The Da Vinci Code" upset the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline, in which Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.
    Despite the controversy, and a critical mauling at the Cannes film festival where it was launched, "The Da Vinci Code" went on to gross more than 750 million U.S. dollars worldwide, supporting the theory that no publicity is bad publicity.
    In "Angels & Demons", Hank's character Langdon is recruited by the Vatican after the pope dies and four cardinals who are favorites to succeed him are kidnapped.
    Langdon races through the "Eternal City" deciphering clues linked to a centuries-old secret society, the Illuminati.
    The film hits theatres across the globe on May 15.
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