THE BOOK OF MORMON Tour Producers Refuse to Run Ad for THE SARATOV APPROACH Film About Mormon Missionaries

The distributor of a movie about Mormon missionaries kidnapped in Russia has been denied access to advertise in the playbill for the current tour of the Book of Mormon musical. Cedar Fort publishing and media has started a national campaign promoting the movie as a real Mormon missionary story.

"Everything was going fine with the playbill ad buys for The Saratov Approach," said Spencer Harden, film acquisition and development manager for Cedar Fort. "Many theaters have accepted our ads. Then I received an e-mail from the corporate director of sales and marketing for Broadway in Detroit apologizing that they could not print our ad," Harden said.

Harden reportedly has an e-mail from the director which says, "I have bad news. Our final program has to be approved by the producers of The Book Of Mormon and unfortunately they have asked us to not accept this ad. I'm very sorry about that. We would love to have you in there, but it is their show and they have the final word."

Harden said he asked if the producers gave a reason why and the director wrote back, "I'm not sure... I even asked if it was the headline or the content of the movie and they responded by saying 'both.'"

The Saratov Approach was written and directed by independent filmmaker Garrett Batty and tells the true story of missionaries Andrew Propst and Travis Tuttle who were abducted in Russia and held for $300,000 ransom in 1998.

Batty said he made the film as a counter to the naive caricatures depicted in the Book of Mormon musical. While studying in film school, Batty was impressed by the story of the Saratov kidnappings making national headlines.

"President Clinton, Baptists, Catholics--the whole nation came together to work and pray for the safe return of the Mormon missionaries," said Batty. "I started thinking about the incident again when the Book of Mormon musical premiered and won a bunch of Tony Awards. That's a piece of theater that tells a Mormon missionary story different from the one I had experienced. I wanted to add my voice to the conversation."

While Batty makes no comment on the musical in his film, the film does show a stark contrast to it.

About The Saratov Approach: On what seemed like any other day, Elders Travis Tuttle (Corbin Allred) and Andrew Propst (Maclain Nelson) are approached by Nikolai (Nikita Bogolyubov) to teach a friend. But then the missionaries experience the unimaginable-they are kidnapped, beaten, and held for ransom. While their families, friends, and the world pray for their safe return, Tuttle and Propst are tested physically, emotionally, and most of all-spiritually.

About The Book of Mormon: Winner of 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical, The Book of Mormon comes from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. The musical follows a pair of mismatched Mormon boys sent on a mission to a place that's about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get.