When asked why she did this movie, Dame Helen Mirren replied, "Because they gave me a shitload of money to do it."
Dame Helen Mirren described the part of Mrs. Tingle as her "dream role", noting that the appeal was the ability to lay in bed all day in the "most comfortable costume I've ever worn."
This movie was originally to be called "Killing Mrs. Tingle". The events on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which thirteen people were murdered by two of their own classmates, prompted the name change.
Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver, and Sally Field were considered for the role of Mrs. Tingle.
This movie was originally shot with an R-rating in mind. However, it was decided by Dimension Films after filming that it would be cut down to a PG-13 rating to appeal to a wider audience. As a result, several scenes had to be edited or cut out completely. Most noticeably, the scene where Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan) reenacts a scene from The Exorcist (1973) had to be re-dubbed to excise expletive language. Instead of saying "Fuck me", she says "Take me".