Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment began developing Zorro for TriStar Pictures as early as 1992, initially with Mikael Salomon attached as director and Sean Connery cast as Don Diego de la Vega.
Tom Cruise was offered the role of Zorro but declined, feeling it wasn't a good fit, while Colombian singer Shakira was considered for Elena but turned it down due to limited acting experience and her English skills at the time.
Robert Rodriguez signed on to direct after the success of Desperado and brought Antonio Banderas with him, but he left the project in June 1996 after failing to agree on a budget with TriStar, who offered $41 million against his requested $42-45 million.
Director Martin Campbell turned down the chance to direct Tomorrow Never Dies in order to sign on for The Mask of Zorro.
Sean Connery, originally cast as Don Diego de la Vega, dropped out of the project and was replaced by Anthony Hopkins, who signed on just one month before filming began in December 1996.
Before Banderas was cast, actors considered for Alejandro Murrieta included Benicio Del Toro, Andy García, Marc Anthony, Joaquim de Almeida, and Chayanne.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast after Spielberg saw her performance in the Titanic miniseries and recommended her to Campbell; other actresses who screen-tested for Elena included Izabella Scorupco, Judith Godrèche, Salma Hayek, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez.
Armand Assante was originally cast as Don Rafael Montero but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Odyssey, leading to Stuart Wilson being cast four months later; other actors considered for the role included Sam Shepard, Lance Henriksen, Edward James Olmos, Scott Glenn, and Giancarlo Giannini.
Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones trained under fencing coach Bob Anderson for two months, ten hours a day, during pre-production in Mexico; Banderas had also practiced with the Olympic fencing team in Spain for four months beforehand.
Principal photography began in Mexico on January 27, 1997, mostly at Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City, and production stalled for four days in February when director Martin Campbell was hospitalized with bronchitis.
The production went $10 million over budget, partly due to producer David Foster and uncredited writer David S. Ward being brought in to rewrite scenes after Spielberg and his DreamWorks colleagues became less available.
In December, customs agents held some props for nine days, including Zorro's plastic sword, causing further delays for the troubled production.
A planned introduction scene for Don Rafael Montero, arriving on shore in a boat while sitting on a horse standing inside it, was cut for being too expensive; writers Elliott and Rossio later reused the idea for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
During post-production, Spielberg and Campbell decided that Diego de la Vega's death in his daughter's arms was too depressing an ending, so a new final scene showing Alejandro and Elena happily married with an infant son was shot and added three months after filming had wrapped.
Joaquim de Almeida filmed scenes as Antonio López de Santa Anna, but his role was ultimately cut from the final film.
James Horner, hired in September 1997, composed a score influenced by the music of the Iberian peninsula, built around themes written in the harmonic minor scale.
The soundtrack single "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You," a duet by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena played over the closing credits, reached #3 on the French singles chart and won Outstanding Performance of a Song for a Feature Film at the 1999 ALMA Awards.
The film's story ties into real history: outlaw Joaquin Murrieta and his associate 'Three-Fingered Jack' (based on the real Manuel Garcia) were historical figures killed by lawman Harry Love, whose real-life act of preserving Murrieta's head and Jack's hand in alcohol-filled jars is depicted in the movie, though the film moves the confrontation over a decade earlier than it actually occurred.
The film's foreign premieres attracted European royalty, including Spain's King Juan Carlos I, Queen Sofía, and Princess Elena in Madrid, and a Royal Command Performance in December 1998 topped by Prince Charles and his sons.
Sony purchased a 30-second Super Bowl XXXII advertising spot for $1.3 million to promote the film and launched an official website using VRML technology, marking Sony's first use of that emerging internet marketing tool.
In 2001, Sony sued Fireworks Entertainment Group over the TV series Queen of Swords for copyright infringement related to Zorro, but a judge denied the injunction, ruling that the Zorro character had entered the public domain since the original 1919 and 1920 copyrights had lapsed by 1995.
