(CNN) -- Three years ago, the film based on Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" was the focus of protest and controversy, with a Vatican archbishop calling for a boycott and Catholics at many levels refuting plot points. From left, actors Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer and Ewan McGregor join director Ron Howard at the film's premier. But when it comes to the new film based on a Brown novel, "Angels & Demons," star Tom Hanks says talk of controversy is much ado about nothing. "Everybody is looking for some scandal whether a scandal exists or not," Hanks said of the film. "I think a kind of natural reaction is now that somehow because it's the second Robert Langdon mystery that there is some degree of controversy over it. And there is really not."
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Tom Hanks stars in "Angels & Demons," a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code"
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Fellow cast mate Ewan McGregor says latest film is a standalone
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Like earlier film, "Angels & Demons" has been attacked for mix of fact and fiction
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Catholic League president: "It's all a lie"
"It's a standalone movie ... it's not relevant whether you've seen '@placeholder' or not."