Tom Hanks faced protestors, including nuns, as he began filming for the movie adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" in Britain.

The demonstration took place Monday outside Lincoln Cathedral - which is doubling for London's Westminster Abbey - where religious leaders only agreed to allow filming after the movie's producers made an $180,000 donation, reports the Internet Movie Database.

Hanks, who will only be in Lincoln for two days, was chauffeur-driven the short distance from his five-star hotel to the historic location - and he briefly waved at a small gathering of fans who vied with demonstrators for his attention.

The cathedral's dean, The Very Reverend Alec Knight, has dismissed Brown's 20 million-selling book as "a load of old tosh", but he was unable to turn down the offer of filming that gives priceless publicity to his spiritual home.

However, demonstrators outside the cathedral took exception to Brown's questioning of their religious beliefs, and were led in a 12-hour prayer vigil by Catholic nun Sister Mary Michael.