Filmmakers are striking back at questions being raised about The Golden Compass' anti-religious slant. Responding to an Atlantic Monthly piece on the controversy surrounding the upcoming fantasy film, director Chris Weitz declares that much of the attention being given to the movie's treatment of religion is misguided. Calling the Atlantic Monthly piece a "hatchet-job," Weitz says that writer Hanna Rosin writes out of "disdain," but has not actually seen the film. Weitz continues:

One is put in mind of a line from the Good Book: "Thou shalt not bear false witness." For example: it is true that I said that clerics and religious people had been presented as boobs and hypocrites in many Hollywood films in the last few decades. But her statement that this was to me a "solid explanation for why [I'm] not selling out" is entirely her own invention. We were talking about entirely different things at the time during our interview, and the notion that I somehow regard myself as doing the religious right a solid is grotesque.

Meanwhile, Weitz also spoke with the MTV Movies Blog, and the question of religion in The Golden Compass is addressed almost immediately. Muses Weitz: "So, how does one go about adapting a book that has controversial elements into a film that a very wide variety of people can enjoy, without betraying the original? One tries to be clever about it." He goes on to discuss some of the ways in which the themes present in the book are found in the movie in new or altered forms.

Continues Weitz, "Now, one thing that some of the extremists who have attacked the film are right about is that I would be happy if it made more people read the books—not because I am pursuing any sort of atheist agenda (this is a ridiculous idea), but because they are great works of literature, beautiful, permanent, and unassailable."

Weitz also confirms that the second and third books do indeed tread into more overtly anti-religious territory than the first, and that he, for one, hopes the films follow suit. "I will not be involved with any 'watering down' of books two and three, since what I have been working towards the whole time in the first film is to be able to deliver on the second and third films. If I sense that this is not possible, there's no point my continuing to work on them."

While Weitz defends his film, the Catholic League continues to urge a boycott, and has asked the publishers of the books to disassociate themselves with the movie franchise.

Meanwhile, Baptist Press has posted a fairly comprehensive story about the controversy. And see our earlier coverage of the uproar here.

In other movie news:

Da Vinci sequel falls victim to writers strike (Reuters)
Angels & Demons first big-screen casualty of the holdout

Bella moves up to No. 12 in box office (Box Office Mojo)
Indie film, a favorite with Christians, passes $5 million mark

Ridley Scott to direct religiously-charged supernatural thriller (Variety)
Film revolves around destruction of religious sites worldwide

Heartland honors Mr. Magorium (Truly Moving Pictures)
New family film honored with Truly Moving Picture award

Award shows could be hurt by WGA strike (Variety)
Oscars, Globes could be left writerless

More Star Trek casting news announced (IESB)
House's Jennifer Morrison, Aussie Chris Hemsworth join the crew

First look at fourth Rambo (USA Today)
Title character has "lost his faith and given up on humanity"

Student film society looks at Mormon cinema (FilmStew)
U. of Chicago's Doc Films fest examines the genre

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