Officials in Iran are demanding an apology from movie bosses in Hollywood over a string of alleged "insults and slanders" about the country in films such as The Wrestler and 300.
Contactmusic.com reports that Javad Shamaghdari, the art adviser to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cited the two movies as "unjustly attacking" the nation.
Shamaghdari claims war epic 300, about the Greco-Persian wars, portrayed Iran's ancestors as a bloodthirsty race, while The Wrestler recently came under fire in the country for a scene, which saw lead actor Mickey Rourke tearing the Iranian flag.
Representatives of America's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including president Sid Ganis, are currently visiting Iran to meet officials from the Iranian Alliance of Motion Pictures as government executives there are urging their organisation to boycott the Hollywood group until an apology is given.
"(Iranian) cinema officials will only have the right to have official sessions with Hollywood movie makers when they apologise to the Iranians for their 30 years of insults and slanders," Shamaghdari said.
"We will believe (US President Barack) Obama's policy of change when we see change in Hollywood too, and if Hollywood wants to correct its behaviour towards Iranian people and Islamic culture then they have to officially apologise," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"We will believe (US President Barack) Obama's policy of change when we see change in Hollywood too, and if Hollywood wants to correct its behaviour towards Iranian people and Islamic culture then they have to officially apologise," he added.
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