Spent a couple of years on the shelf in the UK before release.
Sam Neill and Willem Dafoe would work together again in Daybreakers (2009) and The Hunter (2011).
Harold Pinter had worked on a screenplay when Richard Lester was slated to direct.
In the mid 70's, following the announcement that Francis Ford Coppola's " Apocalypse Now" was based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness " , studio's began to look at other Conrad properties. Ridley Scott's debut was Conrad's " The Duellists" , and there was also talk of " Nostromo" being filmed. Sydney Pollack and Louis Malle were being courted by Paramount to direct " Victory " around 1978.
The cast includes 3 actors who played King Charles the II of England: Sam Neill, who starred in "Restoration", Rufus Sewell, who played the king in the mini-series "Charles II: The Power & the Passion" and Simon Callow, who played the king in "England, My England".