This image was lost some time after publication.

Director Ron Howard has been soft-shoeing around the growing uproar over his controversial new movie, The Da Vinci Code. (We hear it has something to do with the fact that it's just a thinly veiled retread of What's Love Got To Do With It?, with Jesus recast in the Ike Turner role.) So leave it to star Ian McKellen to dismiss Matt Lauer's questions of whether or not the movie requires a disclaimer by insisting Christianity's shoddy source material needs a disclaimer instead. From Us Weekly's blog:

"I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer at the front saying 'This is fiction.'" McKellen responded. "I mean walking on water? I mean, it takes an act of faith."

While McKellen has never been one to shy away from controversy—he's long been an outspoken proponent of legalizing wizard-wizard marriage—we can't help but wonder if perhaps this time he's gone too far. Certainly there are far more sensitive approaches to addressing the film's pious detractors than by merely offering them the equivalent of, "You have built your lives on nothing more than fanciful lies! But that shouldn't discourage you from catching me reprise my role as Magneto in the much anticipated X-Men: The Last Stand, coming soon."