{"id":1365,"date":"2007-09-10T23:37:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-10T23:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/charles-and-maher-talk-religulous-in-toronto\/"},"modified":"2007-09-10T23:37:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-10T23:37:00","slug":"charles-and-maher-talk-religulous-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/charles-and-maher-talk-religulous-in-toronto.html","title":{"rendered":"Charles and Maher talk Religulous in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Variety<\/a><\/i> reports from the Toronto International Film Festival<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Footage of \u201cReligulous<\/a>,\u201d which amounted to an extended trailer, saw Maher poking fun at Christians, Jews and Muslims with equal dexterity. \u201cGod made homosexuals; man made Bibles,\u201d quips Maher in one vignette musing on the major religions\u2019 occasionally backward attitude toward sexuality. Other clips find Maher visiting the Vatican, Jerusalem and even a London underground underpass in search of the truth. Mostly, all he seems to find are punchlines.<\/p>\n

Pic is virtually guaranteed to generate wells of ink when it finally bows. It\u2019s been snapped up in all hot-button zones, with Falcon handling Arab-language territories and Forum the Israeli release. Charles described it as \u201cpan-offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who say they\u2019re religious say they\u2019re humble, but they\u2019re arrogant, because they say they have all the answers,\u201d said Maher at the generally appreciative press confab.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a Michael Moore<\/a>-style polemic,\u201d said IM Global topper Stuart Ford. \u201cThe subject matter is very much of the moment. All the major religions take themselves too seriously. We\u2019re saying it\u2019s OK to laugh at yourself. Don\u2019t take this stuff too seriously because it\u2019s destroying the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Charles and Maher double act added some much-needed laughs to a fest sked that has at times carried the world on its shoulders. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmmm. I call myself religious, but I don\u2019t think I would ever say that I have all the answers. I wonder what Maher means.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in other news, the new poster for the film is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SEP 11 UPDATE: The Chicago Reader<\/a><\/i>\u2018s On Film blog adds:<\/p>\n

. . . Maher was quick to distinguish the project from mainstream movies like Evan Almighty<\/a><\/i> that lightly spoof the Bible while leaving its bedrock assumptions unchallenged. As Charles put it, \u201cMost movies tend to poke gentle fun\u201d at religion, whereas \u201cwe want to stab it to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as I could tell from the clips, that mercilessness seems to be the project\u2019s chief asset. Real comedy requires a point of view, and whereas most MSM debates about religious matters try to manufacture a facade of fairness by respecting irrationality, the funniest segments screened tended to be the most unfair. In one scene Maher is interviewing an imam about the concept of the fatwa when the imam interrupts the interview to answer his cell phone. As he\u2019s reading a text message, Charles and Maher superimpose their version on-screen. \u201cWhat r my orders?\u201d asks the sender. The imam replies, \u201cDeath 2 Bill Maher. LOL. :).\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the other clips featured similar gags, with the sort of quick cuts to stock footage that we\u2019ve all seen in Michael Moore\u2019s movies. (One particularly choice sequence tells the story of Adam and Eve through a cheaply animated kiddie flick; whenever God appears, he does so in the person of the title character from the camp horror flick Leprechaun<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

Later, when the moderator opened the program to questions from the audience, one participant called Maher and Charles on their tactics, saying that it was one thing to let the interviewees hang themselves with their own words but another thing to take \u201ccheap shots.\u201d The difference in their responses was illuminating: Charles hotly advised the audience member to \u201cmake your own movie,\u201d but Maher pointed out that it was a work in progress and said that, in keeping with the spirit of openness, they would keep his criticism in mind. Maintaining a certain amount of respect for the other side has made Real Time<\/i> the fairest debate show on TV, but Maher\u2019s unwillingness to suffer fools gladly has made it one of the most productive as well. We\u2019ll see whether his movie can walk the same fine line.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPPERDATE: The Globe and Mail<\/a><\/i> adds these bits:<\/p>\n

The twinning of power and violence . . . also came up at the Ryerson Theatre on Sunday during the discussion between Bill Maher and Larry Charles (the bearded and be-hatted writer and\/or director of Borat<\/a><\/i>, Seinfeld<\/i>, Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/i> and Entourage<\/i>). They came to town with clips of their documentary-in-progress Religulous<\/i>, which details the absurdities they see in Christianity, Islam and Judaism.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans are now one of the leading torturers in the world,\u201d Maher said. \u201cAnd the government is run almost exclusively by \u2018people of faith.\u2019 It\u2019s amazing to me how many evangelical Christians are okay with torture, considering how their boy got tortured so bad. But their Christianity isn\u2019t about morals or ethics, it\u2019s about saving their ass. They pray to Christ so that they can do whatever they want in this world, and he\u2019ll forgive and protect them in the next. That\u2019s ass-backward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these religions believe in end times<\/a>, so there\u2019s no need to believe in peace or working things out,\u201d Charles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need a person of faith in the U.S. presidency; we need a person of doubt,\u201d Maher said. \u201cWe need a person who says, \u2018I don\u2019t know what will happen if we invade Iraq, let\u2019s think about that.\u2019 We have a person of faith, and it\u2019s a mess.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPPESTDATE: Incidentally, I have to ask: Why does this film seem to be going after the three major monotheistic religions only? What about Hinduism or Buddhism<\/a> or paganism or\u2026? Surely a \u201cpan-offensive\u201d movie could be a little more inclusive.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Variety reports from the Toronto International Film Festival: Footage of \u201cReligulous,\u201d which amounted to an extended trailer, saw Maher poking fun at Christians, Jews and Muslims with equal dexterity. \u201cGod made homosexuals; man made Bibles,\u201d quips Maher in one vignette musing on the major religions\u2019 occasionally backward attitude toward sexuality. Other clips find Maher visiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCharles and Maher talk Religulous in Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Variety reports from the Toronto International Film Festival:Footage of "Religulous," which amounted to an extended trailer, saw Maher poking fun at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/charles-and-maher-talk-religulous-in-toronto.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charles and Maher talk Religulous in Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Variety reports from the Toronto International Film Festival:Footage of "Religulous," which amounted to an extended trailer, saw Maher poking fun at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/charles-and-maher-talk-religulous-in-toronto.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-09-10T23:37:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RuY40ykjEqI\/AAAAAAAAAoU\/lZHGu4S1-vo\/s400\/religulousposter-a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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