The decision to switch the gender of the lead character was a diving board to a whole new appreciation of the play. It had everything to do with Dame Helen Mirren and a coincidental exchange that writer, producer, and director Julie Taymor had with Mirren. When Taymor encountered Mirren at a party, she had already envisioned Mirren in the role and their conversation cemented her decision. "We were talking Shakespeare", Taymor recollects, "and she had no idea I was planning this film when she mentioned that the first Shakespeare she ever did was Caliban in 'The Tempest', and she actually said to me, 'You know, I could play Prospero-as a woman.' And I said, 'Do you want to? Because I've been preparing a film version of 'The Tempest' with exactly that in mind.' And, fortunately, she said 'yes'."
"O mistress mine" is originally a song from "Twelfth Night" (also by Shakespeare), not "The Tempest."
The cast includes two Oscar winners: Dame Helen Mirren and Chris Cooper; and four Oscar nominees: Felicity Jones, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, and Tom Conti.
The line in the song "Come unto these yellow sands" was changed in this movie to "Come unto these darkened sands."
Alan Cumming's second collaboration with writer, producer, and director Julie Taymor since Titus (1999), another Shakespeare adaptation.
Julie Taymor: [Elliot Goldenthal score]: Elliot Goldenthal has composed almost every Julie Taymor film.