Trivia / Wittgenstein

• Cast the Expert: Ballerina Lydia Lopokova is played by Lynn Seymour, a choreographer and retired ballerina.
• Creator Backlash: Terry Eagleton, who wrote the original script, said in the forward to the published screenplay (which contains both his script and the rather different shooting script, by Jarman and Ken Butler) that whereas he thought his script was "reasonably strong on ideas but short on dramatic action; Jarman's, minus my own interpolations, seems to me just the other way round." He did, however, concede that the finished film was more visually and dramatically interesting than his original script would have been.
• Fake Nationality: English actor Karl Johnson playing Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.
• Life Imitates Art: Wittgenstein fought in World War I: Clancy Chassay, who plays Young Ludwig, has gone on to be a respected war correspondent, reporting from Lebanon, Afghanistan and Gaza, among other places.
• Throw It In!: Derek Jarman encouraged this in his movies, and some of the letters that Ottoline reads out were suggested by Tilda Swinton. When Ottoline appears wearing bizarre face paint, this was also Swinton's idea.

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