Tim Roth thought he was going to be fired for making Archibald Cunningham too eccentric. He asked his agent to start looking for more work for him. Despite thinking this, director Michael Caton-Jones told him to be more campy and eccentric. Roth would later receive an Oscar nomination for his performance.
This movie was shot entirely on-location in Scotland, much of it in parts of the Highlands so remote, they had to be reached by helicopter.
Montrose's line bemoaning the Queen's lack of an heir is a reference to her seventeen pregnancies, which resulted in six miscarriages, six stillbirths, two children who lived only a few minutes after birth, a daughter who didn't see her first birthday, another who didn't see her second, and a son, William, Duke of Gloucester, who died a few days after turning eleven, two years before Anne's ascension to the throne.
Jason Flemyng took the part of an extra in this movie in direct opposition to the wishes of his agent. Flemyng was determined to be in this movie, as it gave him a chance to act alongside Tim Roth, one of his idols.
In his memoir, Brian Cox admitted that he did not get along with director Michael Caton-Jones, who he claims had little respect for the script or the cast. Caton-Jones's firing of renowned cinematographer Roger Deakins partway through the shoot was the point when Cox completely lost respect for him.