Development

Frank Howson claimed he spent five years writing the script. "It was the hardest script I've ever written," he said. "He [Errol Flynn] was such an enigmatic figure."^[4]

Howson gave the lead role to Guy Pearce, with whom he had previously made two films. Pearce felt he did not look anything like Errol Flynn but his hair was cut and he wore brown contact lenses. "He was a very mixed up-person," Pearce said of Flynn. "Most of the things he did were out of desperation, trying to find himself. He was more like a kid who never grew up."^[5]

Original shoot

The movie was originally directed by Brian Kavanagh in 1989 on a budget of $3.5 million. Shooting took place in Melbourne, Cairns and New Guinea and was completed in September, despite the Cairns shoot being delayed by the 1989 Australian pilots' dispute.^[6]

Re-shoot

At the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, marketing group J and M became interested in distributing the film but thought it needed some re-shooting and some "name" stars. They provided a further $1 million for this to happen.^[7]

The film was then largely re-shot with Frank Howson stepping in as director, and some different support actors cast. Guy Pearce returned as Errol Flynn, but Rebecca Rigg, Jeff Truman and Paul Steven were replaced by Claudia Karvan, Steven Berkoff and John Savage. This caused trouble with Australia's Actors Equity because two Australian actors were replaced with foreign ones.^[8][9] New scenes were shot in Melbourne and Fiji, which stood in for New Guinea.^[10]

The Fijian unit was based out of Lase Lase, about 50 km from Nadi. No Fijian women would agree to go topless, so South African actress Sandi Schultz was imported to play the role of the chief's daughter. The Fijian men were reluctant to take their underwear off to play New Guinea natives.^[11] It was estimated about 40% of the film was reshot.^[12]

Frank Howson later said:

The original version of the film is literally unshowable. I had to sack the director and start again at great personal expense to me and my business partner. Remaking that film out of our own pockets, basically, put a huge financial pressure on our company. And ourselves for a few years and no doubt added tension that ultimately ruined our relationship, and then wound up the company. But, if I’d have released the original version I think it would’ve killed Guy Pearce’s blooming movie career that I was actively designing. ^[13]