Iran demands apology from Hollywood
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.
The art adviser to the country's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cites the two movies as having "unjustly attacking" the nation.
Javad Shamaghdari claims war epic 300, about history's Greco-Persian wars, portrayed Iran's ancestors as a bloodthirsty race.
Meanwhile 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 the country to meet with officials from the Iranian Alliance of Motion Pictures.
But government executives are urging the organisation to boycott the Hollywood group until an apology is given.
Shamaghdari says, "(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.
"We will believe (U.S. 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."
