On June 5th, production began on Angels and Demons, the sequel (wait, wasn't the book a prequel?) to tepid religious mystery/global mega-hit The Da Vinci Code.
On June 9th, Jessica Barnes brought to our attention a couple of photos from said shoot.
And as of June 16th, the Vatican has formally denied the long-awaited request on behalf of the filmmakers to film crucial scenes within the critical churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria.
According to Variety, the proper permits require cooperation between the Italian government and the Vatican. However, since "the film pursues a type of fantasy that damages common religious sentiment," they were not approved. The production has already relocated to near Naples in an effort to double the needed interior shots, and the film is still scheduled to open on May 15, 2009.
Tom Hanks' hair could not be reached for comment at the time of this post.
1. A surprising number of the environments from the first movie were mostly CG, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem. I never really ran into anyone that complained about it in the last one anyway.
Posted at 10:03PM on Jun 16th 2008 by madgamer