The Catholic Church in Ireland were very vocal about their views in having the film banned from theatrical distribution. The film censor disagreed and the film was released with an 18 certificate. This marked a major turning point in the relationship between the church and the Irish Film Censor board.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights were so outraged by the film's subject and its release date over the Easter weekend that they called for all their members to boycott anything Disney-related.
Director Antonia Bird was forced to cut a whole scene of Linus Roache's bare behind to ensure only an R rating in the USA, instead of a notorious NC-17.
Marsha Thomason's debut.