"Good Morning America" on Thursday capped off four days and nearly 20 minutes of fawning coverage of "Angels & Demons," the just-released film that features the Catholic Church participating in a brutal massacre. On Thursday, co-star Ayelet Zurer appeared to promote the movie, whose main villain turns out to be a priest who murdered the previous Pope and is also his son. And just like with the interviews of director Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, the film's controversial, anti-Christian elements were completely ignored.
Instead, Sawyer focused on the number of languages the Israeli Zurer could speak and how she prepared for the role. The GMA host never mentioned how the film's storyline, involving the Catholic Church wiping out a secret society called the Illuminati, is false. And, just as with fellow co-star McGregor, she ignored the fact that the movie's big surprise turns out to be that the priest (McGregor's character) is a murderer and the son of the late Pope. On Wednesday, McGregor absurdly claimed, "However, I would stress there is, really, no controversy. There's no anti-Catholicism or anti-Christianity in the movie at all." Sawyer didn't challenge the point.
GMA featured a cast or crew member of "Angels & Demons" for four straight days, totaling 19 minutes and 22 seconds of air time. This isn't the first time that the ABC morning show has heavily promoted a left-leaning film. Over the span of three days in 2007, from November 6-8, Sawyer interviewed Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and director Robert Redford about their anti-war movie "Lions For Lambs." Those segments, which also featured softball questions, totaled 18 minutes and 45 seconds, falling just shy of the amount of time given to "Angels & Demons."
A transcript of the May 14 segment, which aired at 8:31am, follows:
DIANE SAWYER: I want to introduce you to somebody.
CHRIS CUOMO: Please.
SAWYER: I have seen her already in this movie, which is about to come out. Her name is Ayelet Zurer. She's in "Angels & Demons," which comes out this Friday. A phenomenal actress from Israel.
AYELET ZURER (Actress): Yes.
SAWYER: How many languages can you act in? I'm sitting there the whole time thinking her English is perfect. The Italian is perfect. Presumably, you speak Hebrew. What else?
ZURER: I do. I do. English, Hebrew, and I pretend to speak other languages pretty well.
SAWYER: If you do the hands and the movement.
ZURER: Or the movement.
SAWYER: Or the French thing. And you have to do- [Pretends to sneer in French.] You're so very French. You play a physicist in this film. I want to just let a little B-roll of it go by. You have an amazing intensity. And a serious grasp of quantum physics, which we learn from you. You went and studied with a physicist for the part?
ZURER: I met a couple of interesting people from California, from the department of physics and astronomy. And I met women and men and had many discussions. But really, my interest was- I really used the internet more than anything else. YouTube. I'm a visual person.
SAWYER: YouTube. Physics by YouTube.
ZURER: I know.
SAWYER: I love modern life.
ZURER: I'm modern in that way. Yeah. 'Cause I'm a visual person. It was easy for me to understand those things when you actually see, you know. You know, the ideas of particles moving.
SAWYER: And you have a 4-year-old little boy.
ZURER: I do.
SAWYER: You're about to see him today after a couple of days of travel.
ZURER: Yeah. Yeah.
SAWYER: All right. Well, I know that's hard when you're out.
ZURER: When you see other people's kids, you go- [Makes a grabbing motion.]
SAWYER: Your heart feels squeezed. I know that. Anyway, it's Ayelet Zurer. You may have seen her in "Munich," by the way. We've seen her in so many American films and going to see a lot more, in many languages, as far as I can tell. It's "Angels & Demons." It opens this- tomorrow.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
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Comments Policy
Subliminal message: priests are really weird
May 15, 2009 - 14:54 ET by KC MulvilleSure, some of them are sane, and they punish the weird guy. But those priests are really weird. Uptight. They need to get laid. Look, they all want to get laid, and secretly I'll bet most of them do. Even the pope gets laid. How ironic that his own son comes back to kill him!
The plot depends on the assumption that priests are sick and weird.
The media's presentation of it? Just a harmless story. Nothing anti-Catholic, right?
I hate to disagree, but the
May 15, 2009 - 15:03 ET by balboaI hate to disagree, but the plot depends on a lot of things, including the idea that a priest is possible of doing bad things. Not every priest, not all priests.
bal please don't lie
May 15, 2009 - 15:05 ET by botgyou live to disagree
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
KC and I have had very good
May 15, 2009 - 15:08 ET by balboaKC and I have had very good discussions about this topic, and I'm just trying to disagree as respectfully as I can. :-)
;^ )
May 15, 2009 - 15:14 ET by botg;* )
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
What's different here?
May 15, 2009 - 17:43 ET by KC MulvilleThere have been plenty of stories about church corruption before, and Catholics didn't object. Godfather III depended on the story of church corruption, which was, ironically, grounded in fact! But Catholics never objected to that story. Remember The Verdict with Paul Newman? Great flick, and again, the church never objected.
What's different here? The difference is Dan Brown. Brown has openly and consistently claimed that there is real evidence for the corruption that he alleges. He claims that the church already knows that Jesus wasn't divine, and that it was all an elaborate conspiracy, and that the church covers up (at times, violently). Of course, his evidence is embarrassingly silly, but he presents it all the same. He's presenting it as a version of the Rather Syndrome: this is fiction, but it speaks the truth.
So how do we respond to a calumny (I love the word, by the way), when the author portrays it as truth, yet covers his legal ass by being two-faced about it? If he went on this tour, and publicly agreed that it was all fiction, the furor would all go away in an instant. Why doesn't the media press him to publicly acknowlegde that it's purely fiction, and has no truth to it at all? Normally, if you insult someone, you're expected to justify it. Instead, the media is going out of its way to defend him!
Bal, why doesn't the media grill Dan Brown? Brown's trick is to say that there's a well-known secret (Jesus moved to France, LOL) that has been around for centuries, and that he's leaving it up to the reader to judge. That would leave any ordinary person believing that the secret has as much evidence for it as against it. But of course, the secret claim is preposterous, and is well-known for being preposterous. Brown, however, gives it credibility. Brown then hides behind the rhetorical device of saying that he's only presenting it for discussion. Well, why don't we publicize that Dan Brown is a well-known pedophile? I mean, after all, I'm only presenting it for discussion.
Again, the focus isn't Brown himself, or the Catholic church. It's the media, because they defend Brown's calumnies (had to say it one more time) instead of calling it hate-speech, like they call any conservative idea.
If this were a movie which
May 15, 2009 - 15:39 ET by motherbeltIf this were a movie which painted, I don't know, say, Islam, as
a brutal, secretive, vindictive religion, does anyone think GMA would be
talking about it four days in a row and having people on to fawn over it and claim that there is, really, no controversy, as Ewan McGregor said?
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
It was all over PBS as
May 15, 2009 - 15:14 ET by mattmIt was all over PBS as well. Nothing like good PR at taxpayer expense.
Keep advertising it, the movie sucks, keep LOSING YOUR MONEY
May 15, 2009 - 15:27 ET by upcountrywaterHA HA HA This MOVIE is a Piece of crap
Reagan VS 0bama
Last one made over 200
May 15, 2009 - 15:30 ET by balboaLast one made over 200 million.
Most Amazing Police
May 15, 2009 - 15:33 ET by motherbeltMost Amazing Police Chases sells a ton of copies too!
That doesn't mean it's quality fare.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
I meant that more as a
May 15, 2009 - 15:37 ET by balboaI meant that more as a counter to "your losing money".
OK, I admit I didn't read
May 15, 2009 - 15:44 ET by motherbeltOK, I admit I didn't read thoroughly....
it's after 3 PM, by blood sugar is low...I didn't get my Emerald mixed nuts....
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
Snap into a Slim Jim!
May 15, 2009 - 15:46 ET by balboaSnap into a Slim Jim!
MB
May 15, 2009 - 15:51 ET by MrShyJust avoid Obama Administration's Mixed Nuts.
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
bal, why compare this dog of a movie to the first one?
May 15, 2009 - 16:09 ET by upcountrywaterWhy are they pumping the movie day in and day out?
Kuz Star Trek is cleaning up.
GMA is running an Infomerical.
Like i said, It isn't even in the top 10
Dog dog dog...loser movie ha ha ha
Reagan VS 0bama
upcountry, It just came
May 15, 2009 - 17:04 ET by balboaupcountry,
It just came out today.
No matter how mucha the MSM plugs this film
May 15, 2009 - 17:45 ET by Gabrielle Eit's still going to be terminated at the box office next week.
The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.
Art Spander
Because...?
May 15, 2009 - 18:39 ET by balboaBecause...?
Because
May 15, 2009 - 18:48 ET by Gabrielle EBecause I said so.
The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid.
Art Spander
bal that's what i get for not having a TV hooked up to the world
May 15, 2009 - 18:45 ET by upcountrywaterAll that advertising and we shall see if they make a profit.
I hope not, but they probably will.
Reagan VS 0bama
Muslim hitman changed to lapsed Catholic
May 15, 2009 - 18:55 ET by andycanuckThe movie is even worse than suggested, above, as they've changed a hitman character from the book from being a Muslim nutcase doing it for money, fun and revenge against the Christian world to being a lapsed Catholic in the movie.
You can not tell me there
May 15, 2009 - 21:49 ET by ConservativeRexYou can not tell me there isn't a tremendous story just filming the founding of islam. A rouge orphan gets dumped in the city state of Mecca, roaming the streets he gets picked up by his uncle.
He starts preaching 'his' religion on the street corners of Mecca. The polytheistic Meccan population considers him the usual street preaching nutcase. This 24 year old schemes to find a 'hook' for his preaching. He has a 'chat' with Gabriel who tells him to adopt the Meccan moon god 'allah' to drag in more of the local population. He does and voila! He's got himself a religion! Now to get converts he threatens to kill everyone unless they convert to 'his religion'.
And wonder of wonders he starts a movement (and kills a ton of people in the process). It would be the can't miss hit of the summer!! Edgy, thought provoking, not to mention 'brave'. I don't see how it could miss! Now, the question is, who to play this crazy street preacher?
oh, oh, ohohoh
May 15, 2009 - 21:58 ET by botgi know Mr Carter!
what's that actor's name that playe Che Guevera?
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
Horshack
May 15, 2009 - 22:02 ET by general companyHorshack ?
My Gov. thinks I am dangerous, so be careful
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
Oh, So Now It's A "Pro-Zionist" Conspiracy? (Sarcasm Emphasized)
May 15, 2009 - 23:13 ET by The7SticksThat's just what Catholic apologists love to do: blame it on the Jews, particularly us secular Jews. Isn't that right, William Don-of-puke, the apologetic douche that tried to insult us by saying "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews"? Any doubt that because an Israeli actress, like Ayelet Zurer, is in it, this movie's going to be accused of being a pro-Zionist conspiracy? It's not out of the question since the Catholics always persecute us Jews. Well, bring it on, be-yotches!