Joe Harper (the alter ego of Sir Kenneth Branagh) turns down a role in a big science fiction trilogy to return to his company to play Hamlet. Branagh was originally considered for the role of the younger Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
According to writer and director Kenneth Branagh, "one of the greatest pleasures I had was when we had a screening on a Sunday morning in the West End, and most of the crew and cast came, including Joan Collins. I'd paid for the film myself with the money I made from Frankenstein (1994), and we sold it at a profit. The books were completely open. And as they left the cinema that morning, we had all the envelopes laid out and we gave everybody a check, including Joan Collins, who nearly fell over. She said, 'I've been in the business for quite a long time, and this has never happened.' She opened it and she said, 'F**king hell!' Because it was not inconsiderable."
The film was shot in only 21 days.