This movie is often shown at medical colleges as an example of how doctors and researchers should not behave.
When Margaret Edson wrote the play "Wit" (for which she won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), she was an Atlanta-area kindergarten teacher. In 2010, she shifted to teaching sixth grade at Inman Middle School in Atlanta. "Wit" was the first (and, as of 2012, the only) play she ever wrote. As of the end of the 2020-2021 school year, she remains a sixth-grade social studies teacher at David T. Howard Middle School (the school into which Inman was folded in 2020).
The play "Wit" won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1999.
To prepare for her role, Dame Emma Thompson shaved her head, following in the footsteps of Kathleen Chalfant and Judith Light, who performed the role of Vivian Bearing on stage.
This marks the only writing credit for Mike Nichols on one of his own films.