Sir Ian McKellen (Uncle Freddie) starred in the role of Max in the original London West End theatre production in 1979.
Having played the role of Max in the original Broadway production of "Bent", Richard Gere was the original choice of the producers for the same role in this movie, but having already contracted to appear in Justiça Vermelha (1997) and O Chacal (1997), he was unavailable for the shooting schedule of this movie.
The original Broadway play, on which this movie was based, opened at the New Apollo Theater in New York City on December 2, 1979, and ran for two hundred forty-one performances. It was written by Martin Sherman, and was nominated for the 1980 Tony Award for Best Play.
According to the book "Love is Colder Than Death," in 1980 the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was approached to adapt the play as one of his first potential major projects in Hollywood. He even went so far as to meet with Richard Gere for a role (and at the time Gere owned the rights). But Fassbinder was ultimately more interested in casting him in Lili Marleen (1981), and when Gere turned that project down, Fassbinder walked away from Bent.
Poppy de Villeneuve is of French ancestry.