Trivia

The pope being shot by the revolutionaries is played by Luis Buñuel himself.

The stories in The Milky Way (1969) are based on real historical episodes. Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carrière did extensive research for the film, primarily in the _Dictionary of Heresies_ by Abbé Pluquet.

According to his autobiography, My Last Sigh, Luis Buñuel got the idea of making the film after reading Historia de los heterodoxos españoles by Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo.

Luis Buñuel later called The Milky Way (1969) the first in a trilogy (along with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and The Phantom of Liberty (1974)) about "the search for truth."

The Milky Way (1969) is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #402.