Ron Howard has accused the Vatican of deliberately obstructing the filming of his new movie Angels & Demons when they were shooting in Rome.
Angels & Demons is the second book by Dan Brown to be adapted for the big screen, after the success of The Da Vinci Code, and sees Tom Hanks return to the role of Robert Langdon.
Speaking at a press conference the director said: When you come to film in Rome, the official statement to you is that the Vatican has no influence," he explained.
"Everything progressed very smoothly, but unofficially a couple of days before we were going to start filming in several of our locations, it was explained to us that through back channels and so forth that the Vatican had exerted some influence.
"Was I surprised? No. Am I a little frustrated by it at times, sure."
Robert Langdon is summoned by CERN to investigate a murder branded with an Illuminati symbol. But he uncovers a plot to kill four Roman Catholic cardinals and destroy St Peter's Basilica with stolen antimatter during a papal conclave.
2006's The Da Vinci Code which was criticised by the Roman Catholic Church due to controversial interpretations and factual inaccuracies of Christian history, it did however go on to gross over $758 million when it was released.
Angels & Demons is released 15th May.
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