The casting of Dil proved extremely difficult for the filmmakers (
Stanley Kubrick had at one point warned
Neil Jordan the role was probably uncastable) until the casting director (
Susie Figgis) received a tip-off from director
Derek Jarman about
Jaye Davidson. Davidson was later "discovered" by the film's casting agents at a wrap party for Jarman's film
Edward II (1991), and was offered the opportunity to try out for the role of Dil. Davidson was (by his own admission) very drunk and not particularly enthusiastic (he thought it was just a joke at first) but eventually took the role in order to pay for a pair of hand-made leather riding boots he had seen in a copy of Vogue magazine.
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