London, July 31 (ANI): Vatican chiefs have stopped Hollywood director Ron Howard from filming parts of the 'Da Vinci Code' prequel ''Angels and Demons' within the precincts of the city.

In an interview to UK's Telegraph, Vatican City spokesman Father Marco Fibbi said that they had turned down the request by the director to shoot the film without even looking at the script.

The reason - the movie is the big screen adaptation of Dan Brown's novel.

"Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough," Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

"Angels and Demons peddles a type of fantasy that damages our common religious beliefs, just like The Da Vinci Code did," he added.

The film is scheduled to release on May 15, 2009. (ANI)