Why Lancashire actor David Thewlis of Harry Potter and The Artful Dodger fame is banned from China

60-year-old David Thewlis from Blackpool has a career spanning nearly four decades which has seen him star in films across the world but for two thirds of that time, one corner of the globe has been out of bounds...

This is because 27-year ago, the father of one received an order that he was no longer allowed to enter China due to one of his many film roles.

Why is David banned from China?

In 1997, David starred in the American war drama Seven Years in Tibet alongside Brad Pitt, which is based on a true story and depicts the events leading up to China's occupation of Tibet.

Upon it's release, the film was condemned by the government of the People's Republic of China for the way in which it 'vilified' the Communist Chinese military officers (People's Liberation Army, PLA) and for the positive portrayal of the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Chinese government also believed that the film distorts facts, citing how PLA generals did not fly to Tibet and that no Tibetans died by the end of the film's timeline

As a result, all future films produced by Sony were banned from playing in China, including of course Seven Years in Tibet, and the film's stars Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, as well as director Jean-Jacques Annaud, were also banned from China for life.

Is the ban still in place?

The ban on Sony films did not last long but Seven Years in Tibet is still officially banned and it took two decades for the individual exclusions to end.

Brad Pitt's ban was lifted in 2014 to help him promote films and he visited the country that year and again in 2016.

Film director Jean-Jacques Annaud was also allowed back into the country in 2012 to chair the jury of the Shanghai International Film Festival, and in 2015 he wrote, directed and produced a film in China called Wolf Totem.

However it does not appear than David has had his ban lifted yet!

This may change in future though, especially as David is due to star in Avatar 3 and 4 and the last film in the franchise, Avatar: The Way Of Water, was released in China back in 2022.

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Is such Chinese censorship rare?

Chinese censorshop of western films has been well documented over the years with one of the earliest famous examples being the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope. China also limits the number of foreign films that are shown in theatres across the country each year, with Forbes reporting that only 34 foreign titles make the cut annually.

To read more about films banned in China, see this article by our sister site here.