History Trivia / ElCid

* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/SophiaLoren didn't get on. Part of the reason could be that Loren was paid more than Heston (one million dollars, the first time a woman had been paid that sum for acting in a single motion picture). As can be seen in the finished film, during many of the "love" scenes, Heston refused to look at Loren for more than a glance. Creator/AnthonyMann tried take after take, imploring Heston to look into the eyes of the woman he was supposed to love, but Heston couldn't bring himself to do it. Regarding his deathbed scene, he later claimed that he was "looking into the future," rather than into the eyes of his wife. Heston later said he regretted the way he behaved towards Loren during filming, feeling in retrospect that he'd been unprofessional and unfair to her and wished he'd been kinder and less stubborn.

** Creator/CharltonHeston was not overly impressed by the finished film, suggesting in his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" that the film might have been better if Creator/WilliamWyler had directed it instead of Creator/AnthonyMann.

** The historical consultant Ramón Menéndez-Pidal felt completely ignored and hated that his name was not taken off the credits.

** Interestingly enough, the live-action film was never dubbed in Latin American Spanish (outside a very obscure dub which no one knows exactly when or which country was dubbed and very likely was never released), since the European Spanish dub was used instead there. This is likely intentional, due to the very Spaniard setting of the film and the fact the movie itself is based in one of the most famous works of Spanish literature of all time which was originally written in Medieval Spanish, so a Latin American dub would sound out of place here.

* TroubledProduction: The film was one of two separate El Cid films that went into development concurrently, the other was a Spanish co-production set to star Creator/AnthonyQuinn. Production had to be halted when one of its producers sued Samuel Bronston to halt production of the Heston film, and was only resolved after Bronston agreed to give them a producing credit. As a result, part of the film's financing came from Francisco Franco's fascist regime, which heavily promoted the film as a work of nationalist propaganda.

* FakeNationality: Creator/CharltonHeston plays a Spanish folk hero. His wife is played by Creator/SophiaLoren, an Italian; and the rest of the cast is a mostly British, Italian, and French actors.

* FakeNationality: Creator/CharltonHeston is a Spanish folk hero. His wife is played by Creator/SophiaLoren, an Italian; and the rest of the cast is a mostly British, Italian, and French actors.

* FakeNationality: Creator/CharltonHeston is a Spanish folk hero. His wife is played by Creator/SophiaLoren, an Italian; and the rest of the cast is a mix of British, Italian, and French actors.

** Creator/JeanneMoreau was considered for Doña Ximena.
** The part of Ben Yussuf was originally offered to Creator/OrsonWelles.

* MumLooksLikeASister: Sir Michael Hordern, who played Creator/CharltonHeston's father, was only 12 years older than Heston.

* ReCut: In some majority Muslim countries, the entire climax is left out as it depicts the massacre of the Moors.

* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese called it "one of the greatest epic films ever made", and helped finance its 1993 restoration and re-release.

** Creator/SeanConnery was offered the role of García Ordóñez. He turned it down in favour of a production of ''Naked at Oxford'' with his then-wife Diane Cilento.

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/CharltonHeston was not overly impressed by the finished film, suggesting in his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" that the film might have been better if Creator/WilliamWyler had directed it instead of Creator/AnthonyMann.

* FakeNationality: Creator/CharltonHeston is a Spanish folk hero. Despite being shot in Spain, the majority of the rest is a mix of British, Italian, and French actors.

* FakeNationality: Creator/CharltonHeston is a Spanish folk hero.

* NoDubForYou: Interestingly enough, this film was never dubbed in Latin American Spanish (outside a very obscure dub which no one knows exactly when or which country was dubbed and very likely was never released), since the European Spanish dub was used instead there. This is likely intentional, due to the very Spaniard setting of the film and the fact the movie itself is based in one of the most famous works of Spanish literature of all time which was originally written in Medieval Spanish, so a Latin American dub would sound out of place here.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/SophiaLoren didn't get on. Part of the reason could be that Loren was paid more than Heston (one million dollars, the first time a woman had been paid that sum for acting in a single motion picture). As can be seen in the finished film, during many of the "love" scenes, Heston refused to look at Loren for more than a glance. Creator/AnthonyMann tried take after take, imploring Heston to look into the eyes of the woman he loved, but Heston couldn't bring himself to do it. Regarding his deathbed scene, he later claimed that he was "looking into the future," rather than into the eyes of his wife. Heston later said he regretted the way he behaved towards Loren during filming, feeling in retrospect that he'd been unprofessional and unfair to her and wished he'd been kinder and less stubborn towards her.

** Creator/JeanneMoreau was considered for Doña Ximena.

** Creator/SeanConnery was offered the role of García Ordóñez. He turned it down in favour of a production of ''Naked at Oxford'' with his then-wife Diane Cilento.