The Washington National (Anglican) Cathedral has filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers and its parent company, Time-Warner, for "illicit use" of a cathedral sculpture in the film, "The Devil's Advocate".
Called "Ex Nihilo" (out of nothing), the artwork is a bas-relief sculpture above the cathedral's west door, and seeks to present an artistic vision of the creation.
A statement issued by the cathedral said it was joining sculptor Frederick E. Hart in the suit because the film not only infringed on the copyright, but gave a "perverse depiction" of Hart's work that was "deeply offensive" and constituted a "gross misrepresentation".
The sculpture showed the goodness of God's creation, but the film's use violated the "theological intent", the cathedral said.
In the film, released in October, Al Pacino stars as a New York lawyer who turns out to be the devil. He has been given the name of John Milton, the English poet who wrote "Paradise Lost".
The suit charges that a work similar to "Ex Nihilo" was shown in the New York apartment of the film's leading character, and portrayed the human figures of the sculpture coming to life and "engaging in sexual acts". Hart, who is also known for a bronze sculpture at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, issued a statement saying he was "deeply disturbed" that years of "work to create a sculpture of the profound mystery and beauty of God's creation would be so debased and perversely distorted".
The suit was filed 4 December in the Federal District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, and asked for damages and an injunction against further showing of the film. The lawsuit will test the legal ability of churches to control the way their art works are depicted by outside commercial interests.
A spokeswoman for Warner Brothers told ENI that the company was not making any comment on the suit.
The film and broadcasting office of the US Catholic Bishops' Conference, an agency representing all dioceses of the United States, gave "The Devil's Advocate" a "morally offensive" rating for its "gory violence, explicit sexual encounters, recurring full nudity and much rough language with profanity".