Alternate Character Interpretation: In the rare case of the author suggesting an Alternate Interpretation of his own work, John Fowles stated that he saw Miranda as a snobbish, classist hypocrite who tried to convince herself that she pitied Frederick even though she despised him and saw him as beneath her (and, as Frederick correctly predicted, would have still despised him even if he had never kidnapped her). As a pointed example of her hypocrisy, Fowles noted that Miranda considers herself a Buddhist but "despises herself" for not being a vegetarian, symbolizing her habit of espousing noble ideas but being unwilling to sacrifice anything for them. Fowles made a case that this habit ultimately proved her undoing, as she could never identify with Frederick enough to truly understand him and possibly use this understanding to free herself. (For all of this, however, it should be noted that this was Fowles' interpretation of Miranda as a symbol: he never implied that Miranda-the-character deserved her fate, and even hinted that one of the tragedies of the character was that she likely would have grown out of this selfishness and become a truly compassionate person had she lived.)
California Doubling: Though set in England, the film was an American production, with interiors filmed in Los Angeles.
Deleted Role: Kenneth More filmed scenes as Miranda's secret lover "G.P.". Wyler referred to his scenes as "some of the finest footage I ever shot", but reluctantly cut them all because he felt it slowed down the pacing of the film.
Enforced Method Acting: According to Terence Stamp, director William Wyler wouldn't let Samantha Eggar off the set during the day. He also wouldn't allow her to eat with anyone else during the lunch break, and told Stamp to remain in character off-camera.
Life Imitates Art: The book and film have the dubious distinction of being used as inspiration by a number of murderers:
The film was cited by notorious serial killer Robert Berdella (a.k.a. The Kansas City Butcher) as a key inspiration for his crimes.
Killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, working together, used the book as inspiration for their plan to abduct, imprison, and enslave women. They even named their plan "Operation Miranda" after the female main character.
Star-Making Role: For Samantha Eggar, who earned an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe for her performance as Miranda Grey.
The rough cut of the film ran over 3 hours, and included scenes with Kenneth More as Miranda's lover G.P.
Late in pre-production, Terry Southern was hired to rewrite the third act, due to fears by the producers that the novel's original ending was "too bleak" and might fall afoul to censorship. Southern, asked to devise a "happy ending", came up with a plot-twist whereby Miranda is able to turn the tables on Freddie and keep him in the house as her prisoner instead. However, although Southern was extremely well-compensated for his work, none of his writing was used and the original ending was retained.
