Trivia / The Duellists

• Breakthrough Hit: This film got Ridley Scott noticed.
• California Doubling: The "Russia 1812" sequence was shot in Scotland.
• Doing It for the Art: The film's low budget meant that Albert Finney's fee was a case of champagne. He was so eager to be in the film that he accepted.
• Fake Nationality: There isn't a single French actor in the entire movie. The cast is mostly British, with two American leads.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Keith Carradine's girlfriend at the time, actress Christina Raines was cast as d'Hubert's wife Adele.
  • Ridley Scott cast his two sons as d'Hubert's young nephews.
  • Albert Finney was cast because his then-girlfriend Diana Quick was in the film and suggested him for a role.
• Referenced by...:
  • Of all things, Armand d'Hubert appears in the 2000 AD vampire comic Fiends of the Eastern Front as the protagonist of the Napoleonic wars prequel.
  • The film was a big influence on Highlander.
  • The manga series Shigurui also owes a lot to this film, though it's much Bloodier and Gorier.
• Throw It In!: During the scene where D'Hubert asks Adele to marry him, she starts to laugh. This laughter was not intentional. According to Ridley Scott, she actually has a hard time keeping a straight face since one of the horses has a huge erection. If you watch the scene again, one horse makes a shrieking noise, and d'Hubert has to chide it, and both actors nearly break.
• What Could Have Been: Ridley Scott wanted the two leads to be played by Oliver Reed and Michael York (Athos and d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (1973)), but the small budget and studio decisions forced him to choose from a list of less well-known but more affordable Hollywood actors. Michael Moriarty was also considered.

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