John Hannah is partly responsible for the film getting made after the funding collapsed. He coincidentally happened to be in a meeting with Hollywood hotshot Sydney Pollack and casually mentioned this great screenplay he was hoping to make. Pollack was sufficiently interested to read the script and immediately sorted out the funding.
John Hannah stopped worrying about catching trains after this film. "I don't run for trains any more. If I'm meant to get the train, I'll get it," he claimed. "If I don't, there'll be another one along in a few minutes."
Peter Howitt is good friends with Brian May, of the band Queen, and gave him a copy of the finished script, asking him to write a song for the film. May penned the song "Another World," but was told a few months into production that they couldn't use it because another record company was co-financing the film. May kept the song and it became the thematic thread for his solo album "Another World" (1998).
In a 1998 interview, John Hannah claimed that playing James Hammerton "was the hardest thing I've ever done. Like in life, it's much easier to be depressed than to be happy. Being happy and smiling naturally on take 18 is really tough. Give me bawling my eyes out any time."
Peter Howitt got the idea for the film after almost getting hit by a car. He was late in meeting a friend, and innocently walking along London's Charing Cross Road. "I couldn't decide if I should run for the train or first call my mate at a public phone," Howitt recalled. "I impulsively dashed across the street, and was nearly hit by a car, and that brush with death got me thinking. Something inside my head thought, 'That's interesting. What if he had hit me then?' What are the knock-on effects, the domino effects."
Seven years separated that fateful near-death experience and the finished product. In between, there were 20 script rewrites, thousands of pounds of debt, and one nervous breakdown. "All I could do was stay in my flat in Fulham and cry and write the script for Sliding Doors," Howitt revealed. "The worst lasted about three months. Then I slowly began to get better. Now I'm really glad it happened." He also stopped getting his hair cut until he was done with the movie.
Seven years separated that fateful near-death experience and the finished product. In between, there were 20 script rewrites, thousands of pounds of debt, and one nervous breakdown. "All I could do was stay in my flat in Fulham and cry and write the script for Sliding Doors," Howitt revealed. "The worst lasted about three months. Then I slowly began to get better. Now I'm really glad it happened." He also stopped getting his hair cut until he was done with the movie.
Peter Howitt: The diner with the long hair and Liverpudlian accent who orders from Helen on her first evening as a waitress.
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