When the film was screened at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2000, it had a record number of walkouts. One woman, who had actually sat through the entire film, immediately walked out of the ensuing Q&A session past the stage, and hissed "You are sick!" at director Takashi Miike, much to his amusement and delight. At the Swiss premiere, someone passed out and needed emergency room attention.
Asami in the film almost always wears white clothing. In Japan, the color white is associated with death. It was also meant to make her look ghostly.
Audition was shot in approximately three weeks, which was about one more week than usual for Takashi Miike's films at the time.
Takashi Miike has said that he doesn't see this movie as horror, because in Japan horror is considered supernatural and this is about real life; but in the West, horror has a wider purview.
Described by Quentin Tarantino as a "true masterpiece if ever there was one," in a video discussing his favorite films released between 1992 and 2009.