Expats shot in Hong Kong, not shown there: 10 other times that happened with movies banned or pulled from screens, from The Kite Runner to A Clockwork Orange
- One of the most anticipated TV series of 2024, Expats is set in and was filmed in Hong Kong, but viewers in the city cannot watch it
- The same thing has happened with some movies, among them Hong Kong documentary Revolution of Our Times, Afghan-set The Kite Runner and To Singapore, With Love
Set and shot in Hong Kong, Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, is on course to be one of the biggest TV shows of the year.
It’s not the first time that such a phenomenon has occurred. Here are 10 examples of films that became impossible for audiences to see in the place where they were shot.
1 A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Filmed in the UK, including Thamesmead South housing estate in London, Stanley Kubrick’s take on Anthony Burgess’ future-set novel about “ultra-violence” was withdrawn from British circulation in 1973 at the request of Kubrick himself, the reason being the film was linked to several cases of copycat violence.
Kubrick’s family even received death threats.
The ban, which drove the movie underground, remained in place for 27 years – even causing the closure of London’s famous Scala cinema when the staff screened the film illegally; the venue subsequently became mired in a legal battle with the film’s studio backers, Warner Bros.
The film was only re-released in the UK after Kubrick’s death in 1999.
