History Trivia / TheAvengers1998

** One of the Orlin gal writers was, according to his son, left silent. And not in a good way.

* DisownedAdaptation: Creator/PatrickMacnee hated the film, while Brian Clemens, one of the main creative forces behind the series, was dismissive of the idea, saying that "Americans making ''The Avengers'' is like making ''Film/TheGodfather'' in Watford".

** Music/MichaelKamen was forced to re-work parts of his score, which caused him to cancel a number of concerts at Carnegie Hall and arrange additional recording sessions. After working on the film for eight and half months, Kamen quit the film to work on ''Film/LethalWeapon4'' and took his score with him. He told ''Soundtrack'' magazine that working on the film was "like aiming at a moving target".

** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, as she chose to accompany Creator/BradPitt in America where he was filming ''Film/SevenYearsInTibet''. Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/ElizabethHurley, Creator/JuliaRoberts, Creator/MegRyan, Creator/ElisabethShue, Creator/MadeleineStowe, Creator/EmmaThompson and Creator/PollyWalker were also considered.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/UmaThurman was the dream choice to play Emma Peel of both producer Jerry Weintraub and screenwriter Don [=MacPhearson=]. In fact, Weintraub approached her about the role before it was offered to anyone else.

* PromotedFanboy: Screenwriter Don [=MacPhearson=] was an avid fan of the original series.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Plans to make a feature film of ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' date back to 1987 when producer Jerry Weintraub bought the rights to the series. Screenwriter Dave Rogers, who had written several episodes of the series, attended a meeting where he advised the producer on the series' style and Weintraub briefly enticed Creator/MelGibson, who was a fan of the series, to play John Steed. Gibson's casting was leaked to the press, with the Australian newspaper ''The Sunday Mail'' reporting that he would play the role like his hero, Creator/CaryGrant and that he had bought the rights to the series. Gibson denied that he had bought the rights and said that he would never consider playing Steed, as he thought that Creator/PatrickMacnee was perfection. In 1989, Weintraub hired Sam Hamm, fresh off the huge success of ''Film/Batman1989'', to write the script. Hamm completed a script, but Weintraub Entertainment suffered a number of flops and so the funding for the film became scarce. In September 1990, the company declared bankprupcy, Weintraub resigned from his own company and became a producer for Creator/WarnerBros, whom he convinced to back the film having produced three movies for them. Creator/DavidFincer told ''Starlog'' in 1993 that Weintraub had asked him to write and direct the film, but declined due to creative differences - Fincher wanted to shoot in black and white and hoped to cast Creator/CharlesDance as Steed, having worked with him on ''Film/Alien3''. Meanwhile, Hamm's script featured the first meeting between Steed and Emma Peel. However, wanting to create something that would appeal to a nineties audience, he revised the characters, giving them completely different backgrounds and personalities, but retaining the names. This was exactly what Warner Bros. didn't want, so he was paid off in the summer of 1993 and Don [=McPhearson=], a fan of the series, was brought in. Beginning in January 1994, they spent five months crafting a new script. Weintraub once again hoped to cast Gibson as Steed, with Creator/SharonStone as Mrs. Peel (he'd just produced ''Film/TheSpecialist'', which she co-starred in). The planned shooting date of Feburary 1995 came and went and production still hadn't begun. Then Creator/NicholasMeyer was brought in to direct. He promptly re-wrote [=MacPhearson=]'s screenplay, but Warner Bros. disliked his new script and rejected it, so Meyer left the project. [=MacPhearson=] was then brought back to write another draft. Jeremiah Chechick was brought on as director in October 1995, the film was finally given the green light in Feburary 1996 and production finally started on June 1997.

*** The World Council Meeting takes place in the Palace of Westminster and a delegate is kidnapped by men dressed as butlers, who take him away to a waiting helicopter. This leads to a sequence where Emma hangs from the helicopter as it flies across London, causing it to crash near Tower Bridge. She manages to escape unscathed and goes to depart the villain in the underground installation accessed from the island in the serpentine, followed by Steed.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/EddieIzzard claimed the only reason he agreed to do this film was because he just wanted to meet Sean Connery.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/SeanConnery asked veteran stuntman Vic Armstrong at this film's premiere what he thought of the movie. Armstrong, not wanting to offend Connery, said "Yeah it was ok". Connery replied "I thought it was shite"

* DeletedRole: Roger Lloyd Pack filmed scenes as a professor working on the Prospero Programme during an opening sequence which was deleted from the final print. He can still be glimpsed in the trailer.
* DisownedAdaptation: Creator/PatrickMacnee hated the film.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Due to internal wrangling at Warner Bros., the decision was made to vastly cut down the film's running time after test screenings, reducing the 115-minute picture to 89 minutes, sacrificing much coherence and continuity in the process.

* NotScreenedForCritics: Creator/WarnerBros even claimed it was putting the film out without previews not because it was awful, but because the studio wanted the public and press to "discover the film together". This backfired when the movie turned into one of the biggest bombs of 1998 and sunk the careers of director Jeremiah Checkik and Creator/UmaThurman (the latter of whom bounced back later).

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: Plans to make a feature film of ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'' date back to 1987 when producer Jerry Weintraub bought the rights to the series. Screenwriter Dave Rogers, who had written several episodes of the series, attended a meeting where he advised the producer on the series' style and Weintraub briefly enticed Creator/MelGibson, who was a fan of the series, to play John Steed. Gibson's casting was leaked to the press, with the Australian newspaper ''The Sunday Mail'' reporting that he would play the role like his hero, Creator/CaryGrant and that he had bought the rights to the series. Gibson denied that he had bought the rights and said that he would never consider playing Steed, as he thought that Creator/PatrickMacnee was perfection. In 1989, Weintraub hired Sam Hamm, fresh off the huge success of ''Film/Batman1989'', to write the script. Hamm completed a script, but Weintraub Entertainment suffered a number of flops and so the funding for the film became scarce. In September 1990, the company declared bankprupcy, Weintraub resigned from his own company and became a producer for Creator/WarnerBros.

** Creator/SeanBean, Creator/RobbieColtrane, Creator/RupertEverett, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/HughGrant and Creator/AlanRickman were considered for John Steed.
** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, while Creator/EmmaThompson was rumored and Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/JuliaRoberts, Creator/MegRyan, Creator/ElisabethShue, Creator/MadeleineStowe and Creator/PollyWalker were considered.
** Creator/DianaRigg was asked to play Alice. Upon seeing the script, she refused. Creator/JoannaLumley was also offered the role.
** Creator/MichaelCaine was in the running for the role of Sir August De Wynter.
** A lengthy subplot was deleted from the final cut involving Emma Peel's brother in law Valentine. He would apparently die in an explosion with Peter in the opening, only to later get revealed as the BigBad - faking his death and staging the visions to make Emma think she was going mad.
** At one point, Creator/DavidFincher was interested in writing and directing the film with Creator/CharlesDance starring as John Steed. Creator/NicholasMeyer was also considered to direct.

** The original script follows the same plot structure with a few differences . The most important details , which were either altered or trimmed altogether from the finished film, are the following:
*** In the opening sequence Emma Peel is working at Prospero Weather Base with her husband Peter Peel and his brother Valentine Peel. All the scientists are dealing with climatic changes. Peter gives Emma a ring. Shortly thereafter the base is blown up. Peter and Valentine are killed in the explosion but Emma barely makes it out alive.
*** The main villain is not named De Winter but Merriweather.

*** During the final scenes Emma confronted Father in a massive room full of giant mirrors.
*** In the finale it was revealed that the evil mastermind was Valentine Peel in disguise. He had staged his death, was the culprit behind the explosion and killed Peter because he wanted the ring which contained important information about the weather. In an attempt to trick Emma, Valentine initially appears as disguised Peter in order to deceive her to hand him the ring. All the visions that Emma had were staged by Valentine.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/SeanConnery hated the film.

** Creator/RupertEverett and Creator/MelGibson were considered for John Steed.
** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, while Creator/EmmaThompson was rumored and Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/ElisabethShue and Creator/MadeleineStowe were considered.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/SeanConnery as a supervillain.

* FranchiseKiller: Gunned down any ideas of adapting a modern-day successor to the classic British spy show.

* CreatorKiller:
** Director Jeremiah Chechik's career was electrocuted by this movie being a massive critical and commercial bomb (not screening the movie for critics and trying to justify the move by saying he wanted the press and audience "to experience the movie together" blew up in his face and added to the problems.) He spent the next fifteen years sticking to television, and he's still wallowing in the C-list of directors.
** The failure of this and ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' were what persuaded Creator/SeanConnery to retire from acting.

* StarDerailingRole: This film, along with ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' the year prior, banished Creator/UmaThurman's career to the B-list until she was able to claw her way back out with ''Film/KillBill'', which was ironically another Creator/QuentinTarantino project (he was responsible for her stardom from ''Film/PulpFiction''), and this also applies to Connery, whose experience with this and ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' prompted his retirement. The one star whose career was largely unaffected was Creator/RalphFiennes.

** Creator/MelGibson was considered for John Steed.

** Creator/DianaRigg was asked to play Alice. Upon seeing the script, she refused.

* NotScreenedForCritics: Creator/WarnerBros even claimed it was putting the film out without previews not because it was awful, but because the studio wanted the public and press to "discover the film together". This backfired when the movie turned into one of the biggest bombs of 1998 and sunk the careers of director Jeremiah Checkiknote and Creator/UmaThurman (the latter of whom bounced back later).

* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/EddieIzzard claimed the only reason he agreed to do this film was because he just wanted to meet Creator/SeanConnery.

* NotScreenedForCritics: One of the most well-known examples.

** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, while Creator/EmmaThompson was rumored and Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/ElisabethShue and Madeleine Stowe were considered.

* StillbornFranchise: This film's failure quashed all thoughts of making ''The Avengers'' a film series.

* CreatorBacklash: The failure of this and ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' were what persuaded Creator/SeanConnery to retire from acting.
* CreatorKiller: Director Jeremiah Chechik's career was electrocuted by this movie being a massive critical and commercial bomb (not screening the movie for critics and trying to justify the move by saying he wanted the press and audience "to experience the movie together" blew up in his face and added to the problems.) He spent the next fifteen years sticking to television, and he's still wallowing in the C-list of directors.

** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, while Creator/EmmaThompson was rumored and Creator/DrewBarrymore, Creator/ElisabethShue and Creator/MadeleineStowe were considered.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget: $60 million. Box Office: $23,384,939.

* StarDerailingRole: This film, along with ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' the year prior, banished Creator/UmaThurman's career to the B-list until she was able to claw her way back out with ''Film/KillBill'', which was ironically another Creator/QuentinTarantino project (He was responsible for her stardom from ''Film/PulpFiction''), and this also applies to Connery, whose experience with this and ''Extraordinary Gentlemen'' prompted his retirement. The one star whose career was largely unaffected was Creator/RalphFiennes.

** Creator/NicoleKidman was the first choice to play Emma Peel, but was too busy with ''Film/EyesWideShut''. Creator/GwynethPaltrow also turned it down, while Creator/EmmaThompson was rumored and Creator/DrewBarrymore, Elizabeth Hurley and Creator/MadeleineStowe were considered.

*** In the finale it was revealed that the evil mastermind was Valentine Peel in disguise. He had staged his death, was the culprit behind the explosion and killed Peter because he wanted the ring which contained important information about the weather. In an attempt to trick Emma, Valentine initially appears as disguised Peter in order to deceive her to hand him the ring. All the visions that Emma had were staged by Valentine.

* SimilarlyTitledWorks: If anyone tells you that ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' is their favorite movie of all time, chances are they don't mean this movie. As noted on the main page, the movie featuring the Marvel superhero team was renamed ''Avengers Assemble'' in the UK to ensure it isn't mixed up with this film.

* NamesTheSame: If anyone tells you that ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' is their favorite movie of all time, chances are they don't mean this movie. As noted on the main page, the movie featuring the Marvel superhero team was renamed ''Avengers Assemble'' in the UK to ensure it isn't mixed up with this film.

* CastingGag: Creator/SeanConnery as a villain that wouldn't look out of place in a Franchise/JamesBond film.