The scene in which Ludwig (Harvey Keitel) says "Good luck, kid!" before slapping Zero (Tony Revolori) across the face was shot forty-two times until Wes Anderson was satisfied. Keitel actually slapped Revolori each time.
Tilda Swinton spent five hours in the make-up chair to play eighty-four-year-old dowager Madame D. "We're not usually working with a vast, Bruckheimer-type budget on my films, so often we're trying a work-around", said Wes Anderson. "But for the old-age make-up, I just said, 'let's get the most expensive people we can'."
According to writer, producer, and director Wes Anderson, the cast stayed in the same hotel, the Hotel Börse in Görlitz, Germany during principal photography. He insisted all make-up and costume fittings happen in the hotel lobby to speed up filming. The owner of the hotel appeared in this movie as an extra working the front desk of The Grand Budapest Hotel. After filming ended for the day, the crew often returned to find him at the front desk of their own hotel.
"Boy With Apple" was painted by Michael Taylor, and the original sits behind a chair in Wes Anderson's London office.
As an example of how important attention to detail is in movies, graphic designer Annie Atkins stated in interviews that they had created a prop notebook for M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) to use. However, Fiennes immediately noticed that the notebook had no lines in it. After arguing that an organized and meticulous man as his character, M. Gustave, would always prefer lines to write on, the design department got him a notebook with lines. Atkins later stopped using this example when she learned that journalists had completely missed her point, and were instead writing about Fiennes' alleged diva behavior on the set.
Lucas Hedges: as the pump attendant. He previously appeared in Moonrise Kingdom (2012) as Redford, a Khaki Scout who rides a motorcycle.