Sean Bean was in awe of Peter O'Toole. "The first time I met him on the set, he was in a robe with a cigarette holder and he said, 'Sean, how are you, dear boy?' He was just how I imagined him to be."
Wolfgang Petersen originally didn't want Helen to appear in the movie; he felt an actress couldn't live up to the audience's expectations. The producers insisted, so Petersen cast an unknown actress.