The Da Vinci Code/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Banned in China: The film adaptation was banned in a number of countries as it was perceived to be grossly offensive towards Christians and also Muslims (as Jesus is considered one of the Prophets of Islam).
    • Some of the countries which banned the film include Belarus, Iran, Syria and Lebanon. In Jordan, authorities banned the film claiming it "tarnishes the memory of Christian and Islamic figures and contradicts the truth as written in the Bible and the Quran about Jesus".
    • Although Chinese censors did give the film a pass, it was eventually pulled out of circulation due to pressure from Catholic groups.
    • While not banned throughout the Philippines (it was given an R-18 rating by the Movie and Television Classification Board, a move which proved to be just as controversial), it was banned in the city of Manila per a decree by city councillors who labelled it "offensive and contrary to established religious beliefs which cannot take precedence over the right of the persons involved in the film to freedom of expression." Not that it kept people from purchasing (bootleg) copies in neighbouring cities though. SM Supermalls, the largest shopping mall chain in the Philippines, also issued a similar ban prohibiting its theatres from showing the film, though other theatre chains such as Robinsons Malls Movieworld, Gaisano Cinemas, Ayala Malls Cinemas and Glorietta Cinemas did show the film. The Philippine Alliance Against Pornography, a pressure group dedicated to stamping out adult content and indecency in the country, labelled the film as "the most pornographic and blasphemous film in history" and sought the help of then-Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and other religious organisations to stop the showing of the film.
  • What Could Have Been: Brown was initially approached with adapting the book into a 24-style mini-series.