* CreatorsOddball: Creator/DavidFincher was previously known for dark and gritty R-rated thrillers such as ''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/PanicRoom'', and ''Film/{{Se7en}}''. This MagicRealism love story is his first PG-13 rated film.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Creator/{{Paramount|Pictures}} and Creator/WarnerBros had the film set in New Orleans - as opposed to the short story's Baltimore setting - in order to take advantage of Louisiana's filming discounts.
* FakeAmerican: Benjamin's father is played by the British Creator/JasonFlemyng. Amusingly [[spoiler: his daughter]] Caroline is also played by a Brit, Creator/JuliaOrmond. Australian Creator/CateBlanchett also plays the Louisiana native Daisy.
* RealLifeRelative: Creator/BradPitt's daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt plays [[spoiler: Benjamin's daughter Caroline]] [[TimeshiftedActor as a toddler.]]
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The reason Creator/BradPitt [[spoiler: doesn't portray the teenaged Benjamin]] is quite simply because the special effects budget had been depleted.
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: At various points during production, Creator/StevenSpielberg, Creator/RonHoward, and Creator/SpikeJonze were going to direct, and Creator/TomCruise, Creator/JohnTravolta, or even ''Creator/JackNicholson'' was going to star. It had been bouncing around as potential film for decades. Like Creator/DavidFincher said, nobody wanted to make a $150 million film with the idea of death at its center. It took a while for someone to A) turn the bizarre, lifetime-spanning plot into a workable film narrative, and B) find a way to age a main character but keep it clearly the same character.
* ThrowItIn: Director Tarsem Singh was hired to shoot the shots of Benjamin in Cambodia and India, after Creator/DavidFincher heard that he and Creator/BradPitt would both be in Southeast Asia at the same time.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/RachelWeisz was the first choice for Daisy but she had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict.
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