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FILM 1143: THE ENGLISH PATIENT

TRIVIA: In 2005, Juliette Binoche had her Oscar touched up by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her three-year-old son was fond of playing with it and it had subsequently become tarnished and peeling. One of the perks of being an Oscar-winner is that you can have your Oscar repaired for free by the Academy.

Bruce Willis was offered the role of Caravaggio but was talked out of taking the role by his then agent. He later admitted in interviews to regretting this decision.

Originally, 20th Century Fox was to finance the film, but disputes arose between the studio and the producers over casting. In particular, Fox preferred a more well-known actress to play Katharine Clifton instead of Kristin Scott Thomas; Demi Moore was lobbying particularly hard for the role. After the producers refused to give in on a series of casting choices, Fox backed out of the film, and the project was uncertain just as production was about to begin. However, within a few weeks - during which the cast and crew stayed on in Italy without knowing if the film would be made - the film was picked up by Miramax.

Ralph Fiennes' burn make-up took 5 hours to apply every day. Fiennes insisted that the full body make-up be applied even for the scenes where only his head would be filmed.

Was the first digitally-edited film to win an Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Walter Murch). Murch began editing the film mechanically, but then switched to the Avid system after his son suffered a medical emergency so that he could work from his home while his son recovered. Murch writes about the experience in his book "In the Blink of an Eye (2nd Ed.)."

Early into the production, Anthony Minghella fell over and broke his ankle. Therefore for much of the shoot he was either in plaster or crutches.

Minghella's first cut of the film was 4 hours and 10 minutes long.