We want to see Towelhead. Not only is it Alan Ball of American Beauty and Six Feet Under fame (and possibly Tru Blood infamy, if things don’t work out for him), but it features Aaron Eeckhart as a pedophile. And who doesn’t want to see that?

Thing is, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) thinks that Warner Independent should change the title of the flick before its September 12th release. Why? Well, it’s very simple, and actually kind of true.

From the press release:

“The title…is of great concern to us, since the word is commonly used in a derogatory manner against people of the Muslim faith or Arab origin…We have no desire to inhibit the creative process or your right to produce any film you wish. However, I ask you to take the above concerns into consideration and examine the social implications of releasing the film under its current title, ‘Towelhead.’”

CAIR is asking that the film be called Nothing is Private, which is what the film was called until Sundance, when it reverted back to Towelhead, the name of the semi-autobiographical novel the film is based on (the IMDB page has not changed titles).

Although this argument holds more water than the anti-anti-retard hullabaloo surrounding Tropic Thunder, the point remains the same: filmmaking shouldn’t be the place of censors.

Do we feel kind of like posers falling back on the first amendment? Yes.

We’d be on a different side if CAIR made a fuss about this a little earlier. We just don’t think that Warners Independent is going to stop promoting a film less than a month before it comes out so they can change the title, which probably wasn’t losing them any money in the first place.