Trivia / The Marsh King's Daughter (2023)

• California Doubling: Filming primarily took place in Ontario, Canada, doubling as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
• Fake American:
  • Helena Pelletier is played by English actress Daisy Ridley.
  • Jacob Holbrook is portrayed by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn.
• Release Date Change: It was originally announced the movie would be released on October 6th 2023, but it was moved up to November 3rd 2023 to avoid competing with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
• Saved from Development Hell: Plans for a movie adaptation began not long after the book's 2017 publication, but development stalled for a few years, with both the lead actress and director changing in that time. Things finally went forward in 2021, with filming beginning in June and wrapping up in August of that year. Its release was subsequently delayed until 2023 due to issues finding a distributor.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: After some delay, filming was completed in August 2021, but it took over two years for the movie to get a release date for late 2023. This was mostly because the original domestic distributor, STX Films, closed up its distribution department, with the film subsequently being shopped around to different distributors. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, who had partnered with STX, eventually picked up the film as domestic co-distributors; Amazon Studios will distribute the film in Europe.
• Those Two Actors: This is the second film Caren Pistorius and Ben Mendelsohn have appeared in together; they previously had starring roles in Slow West, where Mendelsohn also played a villain who menaced Pistorius' character.
• Troubled Production: Director Neil Burger stated it was a challenging film to shoot; they often filmed scenes in the Canadian wilderness to make it look more authentic, but the remoteness of the filming locations meant that the cast and crew had to use multiple transportation methods and hike for over 30 minutes to set up and start shooting, there was often no access to things like dressing rooms and toilets, and filming equipment had to be helicoptered in. COVID also caused delays and the production began running out of money, so Burger had to drastically re-work some scenes to get around this.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Originally, Alicia Vikander was attached to play the lead Helena and was also set to be the executive producer. However, Vikander ended up dropping out due to the film getting stuck in the development stage, with Daisy Ridley later replacing her.
  • Morten Tyldum (known for Headhunters and The Imitation Game) was the original director, but dropped out around the same time as Alicia Vikander, with Neil Burger taking over directing duties.

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