Director
Guillermo del Toro disowned the film after constant clashes with
Harvey Weinstein and
Bob Weinstein. The latter complained that early footage of the film wasn't scary enough, and would frequently visit the set to make unreasonable demands about what should be shot, deviating away from the script. When that did not solve the matter, Weinstein threatened to fire del Toro and replace him with another director. However, del Toro was saved by the intervention of
Mira Sorvino, who was a recent Oscar winner for
Mighty Aphrodite (1995) (produced by Weinstein's company Miramax). She threatened to quit the film if del Toro's vision wasn't respected, and she received support from her then-boyfriend
Quentin Tarantino, who has made several films for Miramax. The Weinsteins finally agreed to let del Toro stay on, but they oversaw the final cut of the film. Since then, del Toro has never worked with the Weinsteins again, but he made his peace with the film after creating a Director's Cut that was closer to his vision.
