Gloria Swanson originally hired writer/director Edmund Goulding to help her complete Queen Kelly, the unfinished silent epic she'd started with Erich von Stroheim. After he'd spent months editing Von Stroheim's footage, Goulding persuaded Swanson to make The Trespasser instead. He wrote the script in three weeks, the movie was in theaters by the end of the year, and Swanson recouped enough money to pay off Queen Kelly's backers.