Word: opus
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...Villa Tevere, the Rome headquarters of Opus Dei, a couple of dozen men convened in a chamber similar to the one in which The Da Vinci Code's Bishop Aringarosa was handed ?20 million in Vatican bonds to set his nefarious plot in motion. From London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, New York City, Lagos and Montreal they had come, to draft a plan against a man they felt posed the most virulent threat to their order: director Ron Howard...
...Brown's best seller (40 million copies in 44 languages, with 6 million paperbacks sold since they arrived in bookstores March 28) portrayed Opus Dei as an ecclesiastical Cosa Nostra. That was painful enough for the secretive Roman Catholic society. But the thought of having those words put into pictures called for direct action, especially after the group's attempts to negotiate with the filmmakers were declined. "We could not just sit still and wait for the flagellation of the film itself," says Juan Manuel Mora, director of Opus Dei's communications department. "Nobody wanted a battleground. But not just...
...often it's simply Operation Da Vinci Code." The document produced at that January meeting had three talking points: 1) Turn the glare of publicity into a proselytizing opportunity. "We can either weep, or we can sing our song," says Mora, postulating that some people, learning about the nonfictional Opus Dei, will think, Well, it's not that bad. 2) Reach out for allies: "This film offends all Catholics, not just Opus Dei. It says the entire church is a big lie." 3) Engage only in measured discourse. Says Mora: "Any aggressive tone would have played into the marketing...
...picture, which critics had expected to see this month, is not scheduled to be screened until its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, two days before it opens in wide release in the U.S. Nor is there definitive word on the movie's treatment of Opus Dei or even whether the group's name is mentioned...
...religious marketing firm and consulted with Catholic scholars from Notre Dame and Harvard. But Brown's novel remains the movie's canonical text. "People expect to see the book they read," says a source who worked on the film. "The filmmakers, however, were mindful of the concerns. When Opus Dei officials see the movie, I won't say they won't have any concerns, but those concerns will likely be much less than what they've been afraid...