In the little town of Zillah, Wash., God is a 200-foot radioactive dinosaur. Sort of. You see, the parishioners of the Christian Worship Center (denomination: Church of God) there have taken to calling their place of worship the Church of Godzilla — er, make that Church of God-Zillah.
“It is spelled differently, and there’s a little dash between God and Zillah,” Jolene Conner, wife of the church’s pastor, the Rev. Gary Conner, tells Hollywood.com.
It all started about six years ago, when the pastor would visit other congregations and inevitably be introduced as head of the “Church of Godzilla.” Everyone thought it was cute, and around the time of the big-budget, U.S.-made “Godzilla” remake in 1998, the church made T-shirts for a fundraiser, with a picture of a T-Rex holding a cross.
Recently, one parishioner began building a 10-foot dinosaur in the church’s parking lot. The yet-uncompleted creature (it’s made of some kind of metal, Jolene says) is still just a skeleton, but it’s mounted on a trailer and was recently entered in a local parade.
“My husband loved the old Godzilla movies, and we purchased them on videotape,” Jolene says. “And it really has been an attention-getter with kids.”
We had to ask, however, if the church’s fascination with Godzilla and dinosaurs conflicts with scripture, which makes no mention of prehistoric reptiles.
“There’s one spot in Job where Job kind of describes something that sounds like a dinosaur,” she relates. “And there’s physical evidence of dinosaurs — there’s other species that are extinct also. We don’t have any problems with that. We just think it’s a fun little thing that fell into our laps.
“X-Men” X’D OUT? Rumors were flying this week about a snafu with Fox’s “X-Men” movie, which is due out July 14, but studio officials were quick to extinguish them (or try to, anyway). The rumblings started when Fox postponed the “X-Men” press junkets (often a sign of a film in trouble), which were originally slated for June 24.
Fox says there’s no truth to stories (originating from comingsoon.net) that the postponement followed a really bad test screening, which spurred a major re-editing of the flick. The final cut just won’t be finished in time for the press affair. The junkets are now slated for July 8-9, and “the film will be in theaters on the 14th … rest assured, we will be on course.”
POLISHING SPIDER-MAN: Every week there’s new “Spider-Man” movie news, so here goes: According to Daily Variety, Scott Rosenberg, screenwriter of “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “High Fidelity,” has been hired to revamp Columbia’s “Spider-Man” script, written by (“The Lost World“) David Koepp .
