Pues como referente no sé si es el más indicado la película de Weir, porque es norteamericana, está filmada en Estados Unidos y retrata un colegio de ese país, no es por tanto una escuela británica, aunque lo pueda parecer. Al parecer el guionista se inspiró en su propia experiencia (las
citas proceden de imdb):
Writer Tom Schulman's script was partly based on his own experiences at Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school he attended in Nashville, Tennessee, and his professor there, Samuel F. Pickering Jr.
La película está rodada en el estado de Delaware en la Costa Este:
Originally slated to be filmed at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, the project was moved to Delaware because it would have been too expensive to create fake snow on the campus grounds.
Al parecer el director, el australiano Peter Weir, trasladó algunas de sus propias experiencias en la escuela en Australia a la película:
Director Peter Weir attended The Scots College, a private boys school in Sydney. The uniforms, discipline and overall feel of the school translated into many of the film's scenes. In 1994, a stage production of the film, the first in the world authorized by Touchstone Pictures, was put on by the school. Peter Weir attended the opening night and spoke about the making of the film.