The "Under the Banner of Heaven" book describes the Mormon brothers Dan and Ron Lafferty's murders of their sister-in-law and neice. The murders, as you probably recall, was inspired by God telling them to eliminate these two innocent females because they were a causing a detour in God's plan.

So the book isn't Mormon friendly. The book goes into a lot of Mormon history that is accurate, but not a showing a positive light on the Mormon Church. So, as it is about to become a movie, it isn't good news for the Mormon Church.

The word on the inside of the Utah State Prison is that because most of the higher-ups that run the prison are devout Mormons, they don't want to cooperate with the movie/documentary. They all of a sudden have made up new rules about people associated with the movie to visit the Lafferty's to get information.

Last week Producer Shannon Costello (Sean Penn's partner) was allowed a one hour visit with Dan, but with no recording devices allowed. She was discouraged from coming back. In the opinion of insiders at the prison it is to throw a wrench into the movie making process. These prison leaders want to make it as difficult as possible to allow this movie to be made.

Even a non-religious setting like the prison is controlled by Mormons in Utah. It's too bad, this infomation needs to get out to the general public, but Mormons are very protective of their unbecoming history.

It's typical Mormons with their conspiracy theories about how the media industry will bring them down. Enemies of Zion, Anti's, Us vs. Them,

Onward Christian Soldiers.

Interesting story, thanks.

I'm sure the only reason they wanted to interview Lafferty in person is to ensure the verity of the character in the film. That kind of accuracy is a hallmark of Penn's acting style.

Mormons can "control" all they want - inside Utah. But their megalomanic power trip does not extend to the outside world, certainly not to Hollywood. The entertainment business is not interested in boring stories, which is why nobody in Hollywood will EVER make a movie that is favorable to the Mormons. Hollywood looks at the Mormons with the same level of detachment as everything else not-related-to-entertainment: if they can't make big money off of a story, it is not even worth wasting the time of day on. Nothing else matters.

If Hollywood want to make a movie about "Under the Banner of Heaven," they are going to make the movie regardless of whether Monson & Co. try to move heaven and earth to stop it.

Let's hope they do it with or without the help of Utah mormons.

The Theocracy in action.

Wherever mormonism dominates the culture, these petty, obstructive tactics don't have to be official. An unofficial habit of obstructing the projects of non-mormons just seems to be par for the course.

I'm sure the prison officials feel that they are righteously protecting the LDS Church from an assault by The Adversary. It's pitiful in a way. But the pervasive nature of this kind of underhanded enmity is depressing.

Sean Penn should complain to the Utah Film Commission. The phone number is 800.453.8824. The website is http://film.utah.gov

Utah is proactive is bringing film crews to the state. They offer a 25% "film incentive," and the movie industry contributes a lot to the state economy. The Commission would not be happy to see Sean Penn make a public statement about the lack of cooperation from mormon prison officials.