Howard Shelves "Da Vinci" Disclaimer

Tarnation! Opie's done got himself into another scrape.

The Da Vinci Code director Ron Howard has rejected demands by Opus Dei to attach a disclaimer to his would-be blockbuster labeling the film as a work of fiction, spurring a rebuke from the religious sect.

"It's not theology. It's not history. To start off with a disclaimer...Spy thrillers don't start off with disclaimers," Howard told the Los Angeles Times in Sunday's edition.

The latest in a long line of pre-release controversies, concerns the ever contested bloodline theory, centering on the notion that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that their children gave rise to a line of French royalty.

The film features several scenes based on both traditional biblical passages and alternate theories put forth by Dan Brown's mega-selling book.

And the book is none too kind to Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative sect of the Roman Catholic Church, which, in its best light, comes off as a group of murderous, deceitful, power-hungry monks in the novel. Last month, the sect sent a letter to filmmakers and distributor Sony Pictures demanding a disclaimer be attached to the film declaring "any similarity with reality is purely coincidental." Howard has opted to leave off the cinematic footnote, claiming that since the book was a work of fiction, it goes without saying that the film is, too.

"It's very controversial," Howard said. "What Dan Brown did with the novel, we didn't back away from in making the movie. I think what a lot of people have discovered--a lot of theologians--is this is a work of fiction that presents a set of characters that are affected by these conspiracy theories and ideas. Those characters in this work of fiction act and react on that premise."

That echoed an earlier statement from Sony, which called The Da Vinci Code "a work of fiction, and at its heart, it's a thriller, not a religious tract."

On Monday, Opus Dei released a statement expressing disappointment at Howard's decision.

"A disclaimer could have been a way for Sony to show that the company wants to be fair and respectful in its treatment of Christians and the Catholic Church," said Brian Finnerty, Opus Dei's U.S. spokesman.

The sect isn't the only division of the Church that has taken major issue with both the film and book.

The Vatican launched its own offensive against the flick last month, upgrading its disapproval of the book's supposedly anti-Christian theories into a call for a full-blown boycott.

Monsignor Angelo Amato, the number-two official in the Vatican's powerful doctrinal office, called for the ban on the basis that the blockbuster novel was "stridently anti-Christian...full of calumnies, offences and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the Church."

Not all Church officials share the same grievances.

Members of both Opus Dei and the Catholic Church in England and Wales announced plans to capitalize on the interest created by the book and will use the controversy surrounding the film as "teaching opportunities" instead of heresies.

While the Archbishop of Westminster's director of public affairs, Austen Ivereigh, has made a public statement regarding the Church's official stance, the bishops themselves have remained aloof on the topic, instead taking the opportunity to publicly discuss the religion's different sects and beliefs without attempting to spark an uprising.

The Da Vinci Code premieres at the Cannes Film Festival May 17 and opens wide May 19.