In September 1973, Peter Sellers was signed to star in a 17th-century pirate comedy, to be filmed in Cyprus for Columbia Pictures. What followed was a game of cat and mouse between Sellers, Director Peter Medak, cast, crew, and movie executives as Sellers repeatedly attempted to shut down the film. Sellers was in a personal and professional void at the start of filming; his recent failed relationship with Liza Minnelli and a number of poorly received films had spun him into a dark period, giving rise to a roller coaster of incidents during production, from sabotage to mutiny, from agonizing shooting schedules in cold temperatures to Spike Milligan’s frantic on-set rewrites. The film was somehow completed, but Columbia Pictures never released it to theaters.