Italian actress Monica Bellucci was cast in this spy movie hot on the heels of her performance in the James Bond film 'Spectre' (2015)'.
This spy movie has been compared with and considered to have been made in the vein and style of John le Carré espionage thrillers.
This espionage picture is based on a true story. An opening title card states that the film is ''inspired by true events''.
Ben Kingsley previously played a spy during the 1900s in 'Pascali's Island' (1988). The film review for 'Spider in the Web' (2019) at the 'Movie Nation' website stated: ''Even the plot device driving the story is WWI vintage - chemical warfare. It's no surprise that Avram [Ben Kingsley] is a WWI era history buff. That late German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empire era was also the setting for 'Pascali's Island', by the way.''
Actor Ben Kingsley and actress Monica Belluci both previously appeared in the mini-series 'Joseph' (1995) where they portrayed Potiphar and the Pharaoh's Wife respectively.