Neil North, who played the First Lord of the Admiralty in this adaptation, played Ronnie Winslow in the first adaptation, Winslow contre le roi (1948).
Not only do this movie and Un mari idéal (1999) feature Jeremy Northam as a character named "Sir Robert", but his performances in those movies also won him the same two awards (Evening Standard British Film Award's "Best Actor" and ALFS Award's "British Actor of the Year").
According to his diaries, Alan Rickman turned down a role in this movie.