Shekhar Kapur, the director of Cate Blanchett-starring film Elizabeth: The Golden Age has denied Vatican allegations it is anti-Catholic.
Franco Cardini, a Vatican-backed historian, said that the film, which is about Queen Elizabeth I's defeat of the Catholic King's Spanish Armada, was "divisive, distorted and an attack on Catholicism" and an "anti-papal travesty". He also claimed that the film was devised to secularise Europe and is factually wrong.
But Kapur rejects the charge, telling reports: "It's actually very, very deeply not anti-Catholic. It is anti extreme forms of religion. It's anti an interpretation of the word of God, which can be singular."
Meanwhile, Kapur also talked about making a third and final film about Queen Elizabeth I, saying: "There's an assumption there's a trilogy. I think I started that."
However Cate Blanchett, who accompanied Kapur at a press conference promoting the film, kept silent during talk of a third instalment - leaving us guessing as to whether she'll step into the corset and don the crown once again.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which also stars Clive Owen, Rhys Ifans, Geoffrey Rush, Samantha Morton and Abbie Cornish, hits UK cinema screens November 2.