The movie was written by David McKenna and directed by Tony Kaye.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Edward Norton).
There was a controversy about the film in which director Tony Kaye tried to have his name removed from the credits because supposedly actor Edward Norton had had the movie re-edited to give himself more screen time. But the Directors Guild of America has a rule that if a director takes his name off the credits, and is replaced by the Guild's pseudonym Alan Smithee, the director can't explain why he had his name removed. But Kaye had already spoken about the controversy in Variety. He sued the Directors Guild and New Line Cinema, claiming they had violated his First Amendment rights.