 Prospero was John Gielgud (qv)s favorite stage role and he had  attempted to mount a film of Shakespeares "The Tempest" for  decades, contacting Orson Welles (qv), Akira Kurosawa (qv) and  Ingmar Bergman about directing and Welles and Albert Finney (qv)  about playing Caliban. The version with Welles directing and playing  Caliban was in preparation until the financial failure of Welles  and Gielguds film of Falstaff (1966) (qv) forced the project to  fall through, where it laid dormant until Gielgud finally convinced  Peter Greenaway (qv) to make this version.