Cathedral Covers Up For Potter

As the great juggernaut that is the Harry Potter movie nears the end of production on the first movie, news has broken about some of the last scenes filmed on location in Gloucester. If you've been following the film's history at Empire Online, you'll know that evangelical christians had originally protested at the plans to film scenes at the cathedral. The complaints were scotched by the cathedral's Dean. 'I will not deny that the Dean and Chapter are delighted to receive facility fees...' declared The Very Reverend Nicholas Bury. 'However, the main reason for saying yes to the film is that the books are first and foremost a very good and wholesome read for children.' Local magazine, Gloucestershire Today, features an article in its March issue detailing the production's descent on Gloucester Cathedral. It transpires that every effort was made to prevent the film being a source of future offence to christians. In particular, halos featured in the stained-glass windows of the cloisters were taped over by the film crew so that 'no religious icons were evident.' Obviously relations between the film crew, cathedral authorities and the local school were pretty good as there's already talk of the film returning to Gloucester in the future to shoot scenes for the next Potter movies. '[The film crew] have suggested that if the film does well, they'll come back for the sequels,' says The King's School's headmaster Peter Lacey.