Trivia / Parting Shots

• Creator Backlash: Peter Davison said in an interview in 1998 in relation to the movie that he didn't believe Michael Winner knows how to put a film together and had he been asked now to be in it he'd "run a mile". He also said he didn't get on particularly well with Winner. At the very least, Peter Davison and Nicola Bryant are ashamed at ever having participated in the film, and reportedly several of the other cast members were as well.
• Creator Breakdown: Michael Winner came up with the basic storyline after a relationship of his had ended. Speaking to Tim Sebastian of The BBC in June 1999, Winner revealed:
  We all have people we'd like to kill. Sometimes we want to kill them for a long time and sometimes it just lasts the few seconds that they're cutting you up, or being a nuisance. A girlfriend parted very nastily, and I thought "I really wouldn't mind killing you" and five or six years later I thought, "I still wouldn't mind".
• Creator Killer: This film's negative reception led to director Michael Winner retiring from the film industry and becoming a food critic (though for what it's worth, Winner later claimed that he had intended to retire anyway).
• Hostility on the Set: Nicola Bryant described Michael Winner as an ogre, and Peter Davison also said that he didn't get on particularly well with Winner. The crew considered having t-shirts printed with "I'm a f***ing moron". This is what Winner would often shout at them.
• No Budget: Reportedly the film was only even made in the first place because Michael Winner financed it out of his own pocket, and the minimal budget is evidenced by the fact that it's shot on video, and the same two or three home interiors are used over and over again with the bare minimum of re-dressing.
• Posthumous Credit: Oliver Reed died before the film was released.
• Same Voice Their Entire Life: In a flashback scene featuring the younger versions of Chris Rea and John Cleese, the actors dubbed themselves over the younger actors.
• Star-Derailing Role: This was the first and last time singer Chris Rea acted in a major motion picture as well; combined with the failure of The Road to Hell: Part 2, also released in 1999, it nearly killed off his career for good, but he later recovered.
• What Could Have Been: Early discussions for the lead role suggested Neil Morrissey or Martin Clunes, the stars of Men Behaving Badly. However, when Michael Winner met Chris Rea on a beach at Sandy Lane, he was chosen instead.

---