"The Bible" producers to cut Satan scenes over Obama controversyFebruary 18, 2014 - 13:04 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - "The Bible" producers have decided to cut the controversial Satan scenes for its movie release, "Son of God". The deleted footage features the devil portrayed by an actor that looked like President Barack Obama. It caused a buzz after airing last year on the History miniseries, AceShowbiz said. "It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting-room floor. This is now a movie about Jesus, the son of God, and the devil gets no more screen time," Roma Downey, who produced the movie with her husband Mark Burnett, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni played the Satan in the miniseries which is about 10 hours long. For the big screen, it is cut down to only two hours long. The removal is announced just days before the movie version gets a U.S. release on February 28 to avoid similar debates a year ago. "Someone made a comment that the actor who played the devil vaguely resembled our president, and suddenly the media went nuts," Downey recalled the 2013 controversy. "The next day, when I was sure everyone would only be talking about Jesus, they were talking about Satan instead." She went on, "For our movie, 'Son of God', I wanted all of the focus to be on Jesus. I want his name to be on the lips of everyone who sees this movie, so we cast Satan out. It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting-room floor." Photo: WENN Related links: Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Titus, Bilirakis lead legislation to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced the bipartisan legislation. Azerbaijan must respect human rights, Scholz tells Aliyev German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for greater respect for human rights in Azerbaijan. Armenia: Defense Ministry warns against involving army in political processes The Ministry’s statement came after a video surfaced online, showing soldiers joining the protests in Tavush. Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. |