Fatwa: no thanks!

Afraid of retaliation from Islamic fundamentalists, Roland Emmerich strikes a scene from his new disaster movie, «2012».

Interviewed by a journalist on scifiwire.com, German director Roland Emmerich, known for blowing up significant locations in his movies – the White House in «Independence Day», part of Manhattan in «Godzilla» and the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles in «The Day After Tomorrow» – made a decision for his new film «2012» that is a telling reflection of our times.

As he considered destroying the Kaaba, the holy cube in the middle of the Great Mosque in Mecca, where millions of Muslims travel to each year to pray, Emmerich decided to leave the building standing, for fear of angering Islamic fundamentalists and having a fatwa on his head.

Certain that there's no danger in «destroying» Christian holy places, Emmerich instead focused on breaking into ruins the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.