Judas touch affects “Rock Star”

Although the upcoming (Sept. 14) movie Rock Star, starring Mark Wahlberg, is reportedly based on a 1997 New York Times article about a singer in a Judas Priest cover band who was hired by the actual band, all references to the heavy-metal group were removed from the screenplay before it was shot, MTV News reported on its Web site Friday. Andrew Revkin, who wrote the original Timesaccount and served as a creative consultant on the movie, said that the decision to make the movie without the band’s involvement came after members demanded creative control. Revkin told MTV News: “If you were Warner Bros. and you were gonna throw $30 million into making a movie, would you want a bunch of middle-aged former heavy metal stars to have creative control? No.” However, Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton warned: “When the final thing comes out … if people have misconstrued it with our story, then we will have to take some legal action.”