The teacher in the school scene actually taught history to Writer and Director Richard E. Grant at school in the same classroom where the scene takes place.
This was the first movie to be shot in Swaziland.
At one point, the Swazi government wanted to charge the production for use of the landscape in shot.
Based on writer/ director Richard E Grant's childhood of growing up in Swaziland, his father became an alcoholic and died aged 53. Grant's mother is still alive as of 2022 whilst his stepmother died in 2021.
Writer and Director Richard E. Grant kept a diary of pre-production, production, and post-production, which was released as a book with this movie's release.