Billy Bob Thornton says filming sex scenes made his marriage to Angelina Jolie tough. The actor was wed to Jolie from 2000 to 2003, during which time he filmed this movie - featuring explicit scenes with Halle Berry - which put pressure on them both. He told The Sun newspaper: "If you are an actor, even doing a Disney movie or cartoon voices, you could still be away from each other for six months. Look how it applied to me. I go away and do a film like Monster's Ball with a very explicit sex scene with Halle Berry. She is one of the most beautiful women in the world and I am talking on the phone to my wife, and she says, 'What have you been doing today?' And I say, 'Oh, I did that sex scene with Halle Berry.' You are then asked if you actually touch her. I say, 'I had to - it's in the scene'. Other people's situations are hard, with areas of doubt. But if you are a thousand miles from home on a film set simulating sex with a beautiful woman, it's even tougher."
During an interview, Halle Berry was asked if she felt her nudity and the sex scene were really necessary for the film. She replied "....without this scene, I think it would be a very different movie. I think it's a pivotal moment and from that moment on, you understand why these two people get together." She added that if being nude serves the part, she would be happy to disrobe again. "If another role affects me like this, and I feel it's something the character would do - then I'll use my body in way to best serve the character." The actress seems to favor nudity in real-life too. "If the world wouldn't persecute me, I'd take nude pictures every day of the week."
In a 2009 interview with Monster's Ball producer Lee Daniels, he revealed that Wes Bentley did not actually turn down the role of Sonny Grotowski, as was reported at the time. What actually happened was that Bentley committed to the role but then pulled out at the very last minute, and Lionsgate gave them only 48 hours to find a replacement (who turned out to be Heath Ledger). In 2010, Bentley admitted that his erratic, unpredictable, and unreliable behavior throughout much of the 2000s had been caused by a longstanding addiction to heroin and other drugs.
As part of his research for the film, director Marc Forster actually sat in an electric chair and was horrified to see the nail marks that the electrocuted prisoners had involuntarily scratched into the wood.
According to Angela Bassett, who is eight years older than Halle Berry, turned down the role of Leticia which won Berry a Best Actress Oscar. Bassett told Newsweek she "wasn't going to be a prostitute on film" because "it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality." However, Lions Gate Production President Michael Paseornek and the film's producer Lee Daniels rebut Bassett stating she was never even offered the role, and was already committed to Supernova (2000).
Milo Addica: (around 19 mins) Tommy, the prison guard who leads the group in prayer and tells the others that Lawrence Musgrove likes to draw because it calms him down.