Last movie that Gaspard Ulliel filmed before his death, and also the last work he finished and the first film starring Ulliel to be released after his death. 'Coma' finished filming in December 2021. Ulliel died following a skiing accident on January 19, 2022, exactly 24 days before the film's world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, 2022. 'Coma' was announced as one of the films selected for the 2022 Berlin Film Festival on the same day as Ulliel's death, but before his death was confirmed. However, Ulliel's involvement in the film was kept a secret until the official plot and full cast were revealed on February 2, 2022. With its November 16, 2022 release date, 'Coma' will be the last film starring Ulliel to be released in theaters in France.
Gaspard Ulliel, who voiced the doll Scott, had recently died when director Bertrand Bonello was editing the film. Bonello told Variety in February 2022 about that experience: "I was alone in a screening room, and Gaspard had just died, and when I heard his voice resonating in the room it was like a haunting. I thought about some lines from the letter to my daughter where I talk about those we've lost. The film is called 'Coma' and has scenes in a forest that connects the living and the dead. So watching it again felt uncanny. Gaspard resonated throughout."
Bertrand Bonello wrote the screenplay for the film during France's January 2021 lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, shooting in his own house with a small crew and limited means.
The film made its world premiere in the Encounters section at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, 2022.
Director Bertrand Bonello's second collaboration with actors Gaspard Ulliel and Louis Garrel. The first was Saint Laurent (2014).