After Thorsen announced his plans for a film in , having secured funding from the government-run Danish Film Institute , the depiction of Jesus' sexuality immediately created controversy in Denmark and abroad: Thousands of Christians protested in the street, two parties ran on a platform against the film in the Danish general election , and opponents of the film firebombed the Danish ambassador's residence in Rome shortly after Pope Paul VI condemned it.
Thorsen failed to secure funding in at least three countries, was blocked from producing the film in at least two, [ b ] and was personally banned from entering the United Kingdom —where Queen Elizabeth II made a rare comment on a public matter, calling the planned film "obnoxious" through a spokesman. A Danish translation of the screenplay was published as a book in Denmark in ; Grove Press in the United States declined to publish an English version in subsequent years.
In the United States, a long-running hoax emerged falsely claiming that a movie similar to The Many Faces was in production, which has endured as a chain letter for 40 years [update]. I believe the best way to give the Pope a forceful kick in the ass is to turn up the heat on Jesus.
In the film when Jesus rises up out of the grave he'll ball a farmer girl. A nice blonde girl. That by itself signifies in my opinion what Jesus ought to stand for, instead of standing for the repression of life and eroticism. The same year, however, the funding system was changed by act of the Folketing Parliament.
Behrendt declined to fund Thorsen's plans, but Fredholm authorized a grant of , kr. Denmark and France's decisions quickly led to both domestic and international controversy, exacerbated by media coverage that included Thorsen astride a rocket, which he said Jesus' penis would match in size in the film.
