Trivia / Mohammad, Messenger of God

• Author Appeal: Director Moustapha Akkad wanted to make a movie about The Prophet Muhammad to try and bridge what he saw to be a huge cultural gap between the Western and Muslim worlds.
• Banned in China: The film was banned in quite a few Middle-Eastern countries, despite not featuring Muhammad in the flesh.
• Fake Nationality: It's an English-language film set in 7th-8th century Arabia, needless to say there are very few Arab actors in the cast. Anthony Quinn (Hamza) is Mexican-American, Irene Papas (Hind) is Greek, Michael Ansara (Abu Sufyan) is Lebanese-American, Johnny Sekka (Bilal) is Gambian, Garrick Hagon (Ammar) is Canadian, and Andre Morrell (Abu Talib) is English; just to name a few.
• Troubled Production:
  • Producer-director Moustapha Akkad, himself a Muslim, bent over backwards to present a religiously acceptable portrayal of Islam's founding. Akkad consulted imams in Egypt and Saudi Arabia to ensure accuracy and allowed their input on the script. Notably, Muhammad was not depicted onscreen in accordance with Islamic tradition. The production proved arduous and expensive, with extensive location shooting in Morocco and Libya. Akkad complicated matters by shooting Arabic and English-language versions simultaneously, with completely different casts.
  • The film's adverse media coverage hurt it more than the actual production. One media outlet falsely claimed that Charlton Heston had been cast as Muhammad. Akkad and Heston quickly issued a denial but the announcement caused an uproar in the Muslim world regardless. The resulting furor led to widespread protests and riots, notably in Pakistan, where several people were actually killed. Meanwhile, Western interest in the film soured when reporters learned that Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddaffi helped bankroll the production. Akkad noted in his own defense that the lack of Hollywood interest in the movie required him to seek funds elsewhere.
  • The movie gained considerable infamy as well for its connection to the July 1977 Hanafi Siege, when Islamic militants held 149 people hostage (and killing two) in three Washington, D.C. buildings. One of their demands? The destruction of the film for being "sacrilegious".
  • Despite these controversies, Mohammad actually turned a modest profit. In contrast, Akkad's follow-up movie, Lion of the Desert (1981) proved a monumental Box Office Bomb, making just $1,000,000 USD on an alleged $35,000,000 budget.

---