Once the film was completed, a special screening was organized for Noble Prize winner José Saramago, whose book the film was based on. Fearing the celebrated writer's judgment, director George Sluizer hid himself on a chair in the back row of the cinema. Once the film was over, Saramago called Sluizer to come forward, to give him a hug and thank him kindly for his great achievement. With tears in his eyes, the staunch leftist Saramago told Sluizer he had been afraid the film would have become a commercial Hollywood film, which turned out to be incorrect.
George Sluizer: plays the fanatic football fan entering the pitch during the game's half-time interval, carrying a banner with the text 'We are Iberians too'.