Trivia / A Little Princess (1995)

• Acclaimed Flop: The film received heaps of praise, but audiences stayed away. Warner Brothers released it a second time, hoping the good press would generate more Box Office return but to no avail. It still got two Oscar nominations, for art direction and cinematography.
• Acting for Two: Liam Cunningham plays Sara's father and also Prince Rama in Sara's story.
• Actor-Shared Background: Sara Crewe is an absurdly wealthy girl who is Spoiled Sweet. Liesel Matthews^note real surname Pritzker is an heiress to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and a philanthropist in real life. Liesel was even inspired to visit India after making the film.
• Box Office Bomb: The film had a $17 million budget, but only made $10 million.
• Fake American:
  • Eleanor Bron is a British actress playing the American Miss Minchin.
  • The British Arthur Malet plays the American Mr. Randolph.
• Fake Brit:
  • Played with. Sara has an English father, but speaks with an American accent. Her mother is said to have attended Miss Minchin's school in her youth, which is in New York, so it's implied that Sarah's mother was an American.
  • Captain Crewe is played by the Irish actor Liam Cunningham.
• Follow the Leader: The 1995 film came out two years after a successful adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's other famous story, The Secret Garden. It also takes a few cues from the 1994 version of Black Beauty, featuring a couple of the same cast members. All three films were produced by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment.
• One-Book Author: Liesel Matthews did this film and Air Force One before retiring from acting completely.
• Playing Against Type: Liam Cunningham - usually a Deadpan Snarker or Jerkass - as a kind, loving father.
• Real-Life Relative: Executive producer Alan C. Blomquist's son Will plays the boy who gives Sara the money to buy a bun from a bakery.
• Recursive Adaptation: Diane Molleson wrote a novelization which you can read here.