To add a spontaneous effect to the performances, Mike Leigh met with each actor individually and only told them what their character would know at the beginning of the film. As filming progressed the actors were hearing the secrets for the very first time.
Even though the film's screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA, most of the script was improvised during filming. Writer/director Mike Leigh told each of the actors what his/her part in the story was and they each developed their own characters.
Members of the Heaven's Gate cult went to see this movie shortly before their mass suicide.
It is the only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not to win any Academy Awards.