Son of God movie cuts Satan due to Obama likeness

Cheryl K. Chumley washingtontimes.com Producers of the new “Son of God” movie — the followup to the highly successful miniseries, “The Bible” — say they’ve cut out the character of Satan because he looks too much like President Obama. The previous History Channel airing of “The Bible” included the character role of Satan, played by an actor, Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, who was criticized as seeming too similar to the president. The fallout was so dramatic and contentious, producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett decided to edit out Satan in “Son of God,” which opens on Feb. 28, The Daily Mail said. “It gives me great pleasure to tell you that the devil is on the cutting-room floor,” Ms. Downey said, in The Hollywood Reporter. “This is now a movie about Jesus, the son of God, and the devil gets no more screen time.” The film is being put out by 20th Century Fox. “Somebody made a comment that the actor who played the devil vaguely resembled our president, and suddenly the media went nuts,” Ms. Downey said, of the miniseries, in The Hollywood Reporter. “The next day, when I was sure everyone would only be talking about Jesus, they were talking about Satan instead. For our movie, ‘Son of God,’ I wanted all of the focus to be on Jesus. I want his name to be on the lips of everyone who sees this movie, so we cast Satan out.”