The Vatican put "obstacles" in the way of filming the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, according to American director Ron Howard.He said the Catholic Church had made it difficult to film Angels & Demons, the prequel to Dan Brown's best-selling novel.
Howard told The Independent: "We experienced a lot of obstacles in shooting. We were even taken away from areas that weren't controlled by the Vatican."
In June the Vatican banned the makers of Angels & Demons from entering the Holy See and any church in Rome.
Instead they shot scenes in studios and relocated to Caserta, near Naples.
Father Marco Fibbi, a Vatican spokesman, said at the time: "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough."
The Vatican attacked The Da Vinci Code as heretic when it was published and was equally vehement about the film version.
The fictional novel proposed that Jesus sired a secret bloodline through Mary Magdalene that had lasted to the present day. It also painted the Catholic Church - and in particular the Opus Dei sect - as sinister organisations.
Officials at Westminster Abbey also denied his crew access while filming The Da Vinci Code, largely set in London and Paris, saying that to have given permission would have been "inappropriate".
Tom Hanks, who played professor-turned-detective Robert Langdon in the original film, reprises the role for Angles & Demons.
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(Source: TO)