ROME, Italy– The man sitting opposite me is regarded by many as not only one of the most talented directors in Hollywood, but also as one of the nicest guys in the business. But this view is by no means unanimous. Others would have you believe that I’m sitting opposite the enemy of Catholics the world over, the scourge of a billion souls.

Angels & Demons director Ron Howard talks to The Screening Room about making the film.

In a clear attempt to dispel this impression, the scourge offers me a squirt of his hand sanitizer as we say goodbye at the conclusion of our interview in Rome before the premier of his new feature “Angels & Demons”.

 With keen anticipation for his follow-up to blockbuster success "The Da Vinci Code" there will be plenty of flesh to press in the hours ahead - and Ron Howard is taking no chances with swine flu already postponing the film’s opening in Mexico.

 He talked about the controversy surrounding the film. The Vatican and Catholic church has so far stopped short of an official statement about the film - but feelings are still running high in the wake of the first film. The name of author Dan Brown was enough to earn a refusal of permission to shoot in the Vatican City and the churches of Rome.

Many in the church were upset by the storyline of "The Da Vinci Code," which suggested Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and had children who could then be traced to a living heir.

Exploring similar territory, "Angels & Demons" speculates that in previous centuries the church dealt with a provocative group of scientists and free-thinkers called The Illuminati by hunting them down and killing them.

The story for the new film is set in Rome. It forced the film-makers to improvise, going undercover and even posing as tourists to shoot vital images which would help set designers create landmark locations such as the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Square in Hollywood’s own City of Angels - better known as Los Angeles.

On the surface, my interview with Howard appeared to go well. The director appeared friendly, open and courteous – but I was not to be so easily taken in by his act. For I had uncovered evidence destined to put him on potential collision course with the church.

It was only a fleeting glimpse - but I had seen it in the new movie. A two-second shot of a statuette towering over St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The figure had a beard, it was bald - and bore a distinct resemblance to the mortal at the helm of this unearthly blockbuster.

Either Howard had emulated Alfred Hitchcock and other film-makers by including himself in his own production –- or worse, he was attempting to make people follow a false idol by presenting himself in God’s image. I challenged him on the matter.

At first Howard pretended not to understand what I was talking about. Then a smile drew across his face - and to my surprise he even laughed.

"Oh I know the shot you mean," he confessed. "Bushy beard, bald head?"

"That’s the one!" I countered, savouring my moment as a member of the Spanish Inquisition might have rejoiced at breaking a particularly persistent sinner’s resistance to repentance.

"Sorry, that’s not me," he replied. "I think he looks more like Lenin, don’t you?"

 With that the mask that had briefly slipped returned once more and the jovial face – the one that Howard projects to the world – was back in place. And then we were shaking hands and swapping hand sanitizer.

My inquisition was at an end. But would the false prophecies of Ron Howard be enough to convince millions of Catholics to enter the cinematic den of iniquity?

I pray we will soon know the answer.

LONDON, England - "The Screening Room" is taking a close look at the role critics play in the film industry this month.

Kevin Spacey says the Internet has changed the role of the film critic. Where do you get your reviews?

Reviewers have the power to influence audiences around the world, especially in this intensely competitive market.

At the same time, there are those films that have achieved box office success, despite being panned by critics. Remember "The Da Vinci Code," or more recently, "Mamma Mia?"  

In this month's show, we get the lowdown from actors, directors and meet the critics themselves.

We also want to hear from you. Do reviews influence the films you see? Do you think critics have too much power? Not enough?

How important do you think critics are? Leave your comments below. 

According to conventional wisdom for the last few years, the fanboy maketh the blockbuster.

It's a rule Hollywood has lived by for the last 10 years or so. If you want a movie to make it big, then the demographic to aim for is male and aged around 13-24. Certainly the studios have had great success in their pursuit of the fanboy during the last decade by mining comic-books for superheroes and putting them in high-octane action movies.

'Twilight' stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in front of baying fangirls at the U.S. premiere.

Throughout the noughties, high-profile, CGI-heavy movies like “X-Men” (2000) and “Spider-Man” (2002) and lavish adaptations like the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy have been huge successes, driven by money from the pockets of mainly male cinema-goers.

As recently as 2007, the media was continuing to report that the nerdy teen and twentysomething were Hollywood's core audience for blockbusters. But it seems this once reliable demographic may now be under attack - and from an unlikely source.

In its opening weekend in the U.S., director Catherine Hardwicke’s vampire romance, "Twilight," took $70.6 million at the box-office, knocking Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" off the number one slot. By its second weekend it had easily passed the $100 million mark. And interestingly, the film’s success is being driven by young female audiences.

Exit polls carried out by the independent distributor behind “Twilight,” Summit Entertainment, found that 75 percent of the movie’s audience is female - and half were under 25.

Of course, "Twilight," which is adapted from Stephenie Meyer's cult "Twilight" series of books (which has sold more than 17 million copies), has benefited from having a ready-made, salivating teenage fanbase.

Nevertheless, "Twilight" is the strongest example yet of the new box-office might shown by the teen and "tween" (11- and 12-year-old) fangirl demographic this year.

Other films that that have got Hollywood execs sitting up and taking notice include "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," and "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," which broke the U.S. record for the highest-scoring musical opening. It made $42 million in the first weekend, from a three-quarters female audience - and more than half were under-18.

"Teen girls rule the earth," Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, told Variety. "If you look back at the 'Hannah Montana' movie, how well that did, and now this movie ['Twilight'], the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated.”

Perhaps less dramatically, women in general appear to be gaining box-office bite. In the UK, female-friendly ABBA-themed musical "Mamma Mia!" has eclipsed "The Dark Knight" by around $40 million to make it the number one film at the UK box office so far this year - as well as becoming the UK’s fastest-selling DVD.

Despite big-hitters like this year's "The Dark Knight," long term Hollywood is eventually going to run out of high-profile superheroes. And recent developments might mean they will have to start chasing the female demographic, in the hope of further enlivening an audience group that has been called a "sleeping giant."

What do you think? Does the thought of a slew of movies aimed at teenage girls make your blood run cold? Or are you pleased that Hollywood is finally recognizing other often-ignored demographics?

You don't need to be a brain surgeon to make TV, but sometimes it can be pretty complicated.

Rainy weather on the Australia's 'sunny' Gold Coast covers the camera lenses with raindrops forcing the chopper to land.

Take our shoot for the November show. We were on the "The Gold Coast" in Australia for one of the southern hemisphere's big film events, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The Gold Coast is normally blessed by blue skies and bluer seas, but this time it was grey, wet and windy. To show off the classic "Gold Coast look," we had hired a helicopter with special "cineflex" cameras - that can shoot a stable image no matter how much turbulence the chopper encounters - to shoot the coastline from above.

The plan for the opening and closing sequences of the show was to fly the chopper in from the sea towards shore, running fast over the water Miami Vice-style, then pan up to reveal our presenter, Myleene Klass, perched on the deck of a boat saying "Welcome to the show."

Sounds simple, right? But each day we would prepare for this "money shot" and the weather would dash our hopes. No matter how much expensive technology you have, if the weather isn't with you then there's nothing you can do. The final day of the shoot dawned, we still hadn't got our shot, and Myleene, was due on a plane at 10am. Time was running out.

The boat's skipper relays instructions from the show producer in the chopper above the Myleene on the boat deck.

Logistical issues, like how to communicate, were also making things more complicated. The chopper is too noisy for a mobile phone so I had to cue Myleene to deliver her lines using a combination of hand signals and radioing between the chopper pilot and the skipper of the boat who would then instruct Myleene, inevitably causing a delay.

This meant the first attempt at the shot was a failure. Shortly after, it started raining again. The pilot's satellite indicated there would be rain for 10 minutes followed by a seven minute window of sunshine, followed by a long-lasting downpour. This shot had to work.

Success: both shots bagged just as the rain began to come down again.

We wiped the rainwater off the lenses and took off amid the gathering rain clouds. I timed my cues a bit later and we got the opening link and the closing link in the bag just as it started to rain once more.

Television: it's not brain surgery but sometimes it makes you feel like you're in need of some.

Watch the successful shots on this month's Screening Room which goes behind the scenes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, shows footage of the CNN APSA Viewer Choice Award for the Best Asia-Pacific film of all time and features an in-depth interview with Oliver Stone.