The directorial debut of former jazz musician Mike Figgis (who also wrote the script and composed the score), is a flashy crime thriller with romantic overtones that mixes American gangsters, molls, and majorettes with Polish avant-garde jazz musicians against the urban grit of Newcastle Upon Tyne. The setting is a stylish homage to 'Get Carter' (1971) with its setting, and the title refers to blues artist T Bone Walkers signature song 'Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad.' Channel 4 and British Screen part funded this offbeat curiosity piece which stars Sean Bean and Sting, but when it also secured American financing it was suggested that the film bring in some American actors. Hence the presence of Melanie Griffith and Tommy Lee Jones' whose careers were in a dip at the time, agreeing to take parts for a lower fee.