The girl in the red dress, running through the field at the beginning of the movie, was played by Moira Sinise, the wife of director/star Gary Sinise.
When the film premiered in Cannes, Gary Sinise credited Sherilyn Fenn's performance as one of the reasons the film received a standing ovation.
Curley's wife has an unrevealed name, but actress Sherilyn Fenn gave her the name "Daisy."
In total, there were fifteen differences from the novel and the film, including the ending in both.
Roger Ebert gave great compliments to whole movie itself by giving it a 3.5 star rating out of a possible four. Ebert's description on what he viewed was pure and lean as the original novel John Steinbeck wrote, formed in his wisdom. Ebert included that the film had a quiet triumph all along.