Trivia / The Devil's Arithmetic

• California Doubling: The Holocaust scenes are set in Poland, but were filmed in Lithuania.
• Cast the Expert: Lithuanian soldiers were cast as the Nazis, with the result that they knew the right way to move and behave.
• Casting Gag: Paul Freeman had starred in Raiders of the Lost Ark as a Nazi collaborator. Here he plays a rabbi who is imprisoned by the Nazis.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Averted with Kirsten Dunst, as Hannah is aged up from twelve in the book. She's shown driving which means she's at least seventeen, which is the age Kirsten was at the time.
  • Played straight with Brittany Murphy though. She was twenty-two at the time. Rivka's age is not stated but she's clearly meant to be around the same age as Hannah.
• Dyeing for Your Art: A few of the female extras had their hair cut off on screen. Averted with the two leads, who wore wigs.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • Donna Deitch didn't let the actors see the set for the concentration camp until they were to be filmed, and the first scene filmed was the one where they were pushed off the trucks.
  • The Auschwitz scenes were filmed in winter, often in below zero temperatures, allowing the actresses to believably feel cold and scared.
  • The actors also had to share a trailer between four or five of them, which Kirsten Dunst comments on helping them understand their characters' mindsets.
• Fake Nationality: In the film, American Brittany Murphy and British Daniel Brockelbank as Polish Jews. Louise Fletcher as well.
• Playing Against Type: Heavily for Brittany Murphy who became best known for dorky blondes in romantic comedies.
• Saved from Development Hell: Jane Yolen recalls the book's adaptation being optioned for about ten years, and it wasn't able to be made until both Dustin Hoffman was attached as producer and Kirsten Dunst agreed to star.