For the film:
- Actor-Inspired Element: Hugh Grant decided to play Tony as someone who thought he was progressive and trendy in spite of his stuffiness."But when confronted with the Real McCoy, in the form of Elle MacPherson without her clothes, he's hopeless."
- Billing Displacement: Elle MacPherson is on the film's poster next to Hugh Grant despite her character being about fifth in terms of importance. The actual other leads Tara Fitzgerald and Sam Neill aren't on the poster at all. The film was promoted to a degree on the fact that MacPherson, best known at the time for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, is nude in it.
- California Doubling: Averted. The film was not only shot in Australia, but inside the actual home of Norman Lindsay.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Elle MacPherson put on 20 lbs. to match the more voluptuous look of women of the era.
- Fake Australian:
- Borderline with Sam Neill, who is Northern Irish born but grew up in New Zealand, as the Australian painter Norman Lindsay.
- Pamela Rabe, who plays Norman's wife Rose, is Canadian. But she had been living in Australia for a few years before the film.
- Method Acting: Off-camera. Tara Fitzgerald would not party with her castmates in order to help herself stay in character as a repressed woman.
- Star-Making Role:
- As noted on the main page, this was released in the same month as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon, and helped bring Hugh Grant fame in America.
- Elle MacPherson made the transition from model to actress with the film and enjoyed great success as a result.
- Borderline with Portia De Rossi. This was her first film and it led to her getting her more famous roles in Ally McBeal.
- Shown Their Work: Rose did indeed model for her husband's paintings. She actually met him while posing for a painting, and became one of his most recognisable models.
