On one hand, nobody from the studio liked the idea of making a horror movie (even if the book is a historical fiction mixed with horror), while in the end, when the movie was ready, they wanted to make it Darker and Edgier, so what was shot as a PG-13 movie had suddenly a bunch of gorn scenes added to it to get it R-rated.

Studio execs were sending really confusing messages for the entire production.

What makes it worse is the fact that he was removed from production in the final year of filming (the film was in production for three years) and all the decisions that eventually turned the movie into a financial and critical disaster were made without him around, but he still took the beating for them.

Creator Killer: It was the very moment when John McTiernan's career got permanently derailed and kept as such with his next two movies, completely killing him as a creator.

Creator Backlash: Omar Sharif had such a bad experience on the set of the film and was so disappointed by the final cut that he briefly retired from acting.

Completely Different Title: The French translation of the novel was initially released as Le Royaume de Rothgar ( Kingdom of Rothgar), but it was later changed into Le 13e Guerrier (how the movie is known in France, it's a literal translation of the title).

California Doubling: Vast majority of the film was shot on-set in British Columbia.When adjusted for inflation, it is considered among the biggest flops in film history. Box Office Bomb: Notoriously didn't make back its costs, managing a worldwide gross of $61.7 mil against a $100 mil-160 mil budget.Awesome, Dear Boy: Antonio Banderas has said that one of the reasons he signed on was so that he could work alongside Omar Sharif.Accidentally Correct Writing: If the film's Wendol are still Neanderthals in the movie, they are shown to have body paint and cave paintings, which Neanderthals weren't thought to have at the time it was made, but now they are.

13th warrior michael crichton