The Devils

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The Devils Trivia

Derek Jarman's sets are modeled on the sets of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Ken Russell wanted to avoid the clichéd look of period films and insisted on anachronistic, even futuristic, design.
While preparing for the climactic demolition of the city walls, a technician mistook a signal from Ken Russell and detonated the explosives before the cameras were rolling. A large chunk of the set had to be rebuilt.
Judith Paris is listed as Sister Judith in the credits, but is referred to as Sister Agnes in the film.
Supermodel Twiggy and her manager/boyfriend Justin de Villeneuve were given brief cameo roles during the court scene, and appear as a male courtier and a tall silver-wigged gentleman respectively. However once the nuns started stripping Twiggy walked off the set and the pair only filmed one shot.
A major sequence in which the nuns tear down and ravish a life-sized icon of Christ in an orgiastic frenzy was cut from the film and subsequently vanished. Film critic Mark Kermode discovered the footage many years later. Director Russell was keen to reinstate the scene but found that Warner Brothers were not interested in doing a director's cut. The footage can be seen in a documentary Kermode made about Russell and was subsequently included in an uncut DVD release.
Filmed in the summer of 1970.
This film was banned from Italy and its stars Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed were threatened with three years' jail time if they set foot in that country. Reed described this as his best performance ever.
Subject of an online petition to persuade Warner Bros. to release the movie as a DVD, something the company is reluctant to do, apparently because of its controversial nature.
The role of Sister Jeanne was originally offered to Glenda Jackson, who turned it down because she was tired of playing sexually neurotic leads in Ken Russell movies.
First feature film of Gemma Jones.