Outlaw - Vicar's no to film but yes to tea

Source: BBC
Vicar's no to film but yes to tea

28 April 2006

A Gloucestershire vicar has invited two film stars to tea at the vicarage

despite telling their producer he could not film in a 1,000-year-old church.

The Rev Nick Bromfield from St Mary the Virgin decided The Outlaw - starring

Sean Bean and Bob Hoskins - was not appropriate to be filmed in his church.

And the St Briavels vicar is urging other churches to follow his lead.

But to make up for his decision he has asked Bean and Hoskins to

attend a service and come to tea instead.

The Outlaw shows a group of ordinary men taking the law into their own

hands as the country descends into anarchy.

The clergyman had been approached by Vertigo Films, who thought the

Forest of Dean church would be the perfect location for their new vigilante

movie, The Outlaw.

But after watching clips from director Nick Love's gangster flick The Business

and reading more about The Outlaw's plot - the vicar gave the Hollywood

A-listers their marching orders.

"I thought it would be unfair to put it down before I knew anything about him,

but the film appalled me with its brutality and violence particularly towards

women," he explained.

"There were child shootings, drug abuse - the whole caboodle.

"It became pretty clear from the synopsis that The Outlaw was a film of a

similar genre, and exceptionally violent. It became quite a simple decision to

turn them down."

A spokeswoman for Vertigo Films confirmed they had approached the Rev

Bromfield about using the church and were now looking for other locations.

"We respect his decision," she said. "He wasn't a Nick Love fan for whatever

reason and we're now looking for other locations to film."

Filming on The Outlaw will begin in a few weeks in Wales and

Gloucestershire.