Tom Hanks blasts Da Vinci critics
2006-05-12 10:51
London - Hollywood actor Tom Hanks on Thursday criticised calls from church groups and religious leaders for a boycott on his new film, The Da Vinci Code,, insisting they are taking it too seriously.
"We always knew there would be a segment of society that would not want this movie to be shown," the star told London's Evening Standard newspaper ahead of the movie's release later this month.
"But the story we tell is loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense."
Hanks, who plays central character Robert Langdon in the film version of author Dan Brown's controversial best-selling 2003 novel, told the newspaper movie-goers would be making a "very big mistake" to take it at face value.
"It's a damn good story and a lot of fun ... all it is is dialogue. That never hurts."
Critics of The Da Vinci Code, which gets its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France next week, claim its theme - that Jesus Christ had children with Mary Magdalene and their bloodline continues - is blasphemous.
Those who have come out in opposition include the conservative Catholic organisation Opus Dei, accused in the fictional film of covering up the secret. Opus Dei members have said it perpetrates "lies" about the Catholic Church.
Angelo Amato, a key aide to Pope Benedict XVI, has also said director Ron Howard's film had enraged The Vatican and urged the public to shun the movie, describing it as perversely anti-Christian.