Some interesting trivia from the movie
The Message:
Production stopped when the financeers withdrew their support, leaving cast and crew stranded for two weeks in Morocco (in a hotel with broken air conditioning; they slept under wet towels). Financing was eventually supplied by none other than Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
In accordance with Muslim beliefs, Mohammed could not be depicted on screen nor could his voice be heard. This rule extended to his wives, his daughters and his sons-in-law. This left Mohammed's uncle as the central character (played by Anthony Quinn). In the completed film, actors speak directly to the camera and then nod to unheard dialogue.
One of Anthony Quinn's favourite films of his own.
Muhammad Ali expressed interest in playing the role of Bilal, but producer Moustapha Akkad refused, stating that such casting "would smack of commercialism."
The film's adverse media coverage hurt it more than the actual production. One media outlet claimed that Charlton Heston had been cast as Mohammad. Moustapha 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.
Moustapha Akkad filmed for six months in Morocco, but had to stop when the Saudi government exerted great pressure on the Moroccan government to stop the project.
In July 1976, five days before the film opened in London's West End, threatening phone calls to a cinema prompted Moustapha Akkad to change the title from Mohammed, Messenger of
God to The Message, at a cost of £50,000.
As a protest against the release of this film, Afro-American Hinafi Muslims, under their leader, Hamaas Abdul Khaalis (born Ernest McGhee, 1921 - 2003), seized several adjoining
buildings in Washington DC, from March 9 - 11, 1977. They took 149 hostages and killed a police officer and a broadcast journalist in a 39-hour-long standoff.
Being filmed in Libya, the cast and crew would have gone the full year without any access to alcohol. They were only allowed access to confiscated liquor after the authorities had labeled them as "alcoholics" and much of what the crew drank started out as 140-proof powdered mix, which had to be watered down significantly to be made drinkable.