The film was originally slated to star
Kate Hudson and
Ralph Fiennes and be directed by 'Mike Newell' . Hudson pulled out during preproduction (allegedly because she refused to wear a wimple for the role), which resulted in funding being pulled, and by the time new funding was secured, Newell had to move on to another project. After a director search,
Peter Webber was tapped for the job and held auditions for a new female lead. He settled on
Kirsten Dunst, who then dropped the project in wake of
Spider-Man (2002)'s success. At this point, Fiennes had been waiting so long that he too had to move on to other scheduled projects, and so became unavailable.
Scarlett Johansson and
Colin Firth were then cast.
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