 Gaining permission from his newspaper to write a series of articles about the situation in Ireland, he found this was not so.The articles gained much notice lasting over a year, and he was able to make the film when his friend, Victor Herbert, who had made a fortune selling mutual funds, agreed to finance it.Half of the film was shot in the gap before Raoul Coutard was committed to shooting Truffaut's "The Bride Wore Black" and the remainder before his commitment to Godard's "Week End".