Star defends Da Vinci Code

Sir Ian McKellen

With the film of The Da Vinci Code raising religious hackles worldwide, Sir Ian McKellen poured oil on troubled waters yesterday when he took a mischievous swipe at the Catholic Church for its stance on homosexuality.

While Hollywood leading man Tom Hanks and Ron Howard, the director, insisted the US$200 million blockbuster was "just entertainment," the gay British actor admitted he believed every word of Dan Brown's bestseller while he had been reading it - including the central conceit that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and produced children.

Speaking before the movie officially opened the 59th Cannes Film Festival in France last night, Sir Ian said Brown had argued his case "very convincingly".

"When I read the book I believed it entirely," he said.

"When I put the book down I thought what a load of potential codswallop. That's still going on in my mind.

"But I'm very happy to believe that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. I know that the Catholic Church has problems with gay people. I thought that would be absolute proof Jesus was not gay."

However, he suggested there was some snobbery over the film - which is expected to attract the millions of fans of the books regardless of poor to lukewarm reviews from the first critics.

"When the book came out, the controversy that we're all interested in didn't seem to exist. There were no statements from people in powerful places condemning the book," Sir Ian said.

"Is that because readers can be trusted to have minds whereas people who go to see movies are the mindless masses that need to be protected. I think there's a bit of snobbery going on."

Hanks said he thought The Da Vinci Code was both "crackerjack entertainment" and challenging.

But he stressed it was "a work of fiction," not documentary.

There have been protests worldwide over its subversion of church and Christian history, akin to the upset over Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988.

Some Catholics have been particularly upset by the role of the Opus Dei sect in the story.

Sister Mary Michael, a British nun who opposed the filming at Lincoln Cathedral and who prayed outside the premiere last night, said: "The world seems to be in a mess and this film contributes to the confusion."

- INDEPENDENT