During the shooting of the movie in England, Connery was confronted by gangster Johnny Stompanato, at the time the boyfriend of Lana Turner. The jealous man pointed a gun at Connery and warned him to keep away from Turner. Connery answered by grabbing the gun out of Stompanato's hand and twisted his wrist, causing him to run off the set.

Connery stated in interviews for the film (included on the DVD release) that he was offered a role in The Lord of the Rings series,[clarification needed] declining it due to "not understanding the script." CNN reported that the actor was offered up to 15% of the worldwide box office receipts to play Gandalf, which had he accepted, could have earned him as much as $400 million for the trilogy