Diane Lane herniated her neck during a kissing scene with Olivier Martinez. She's quoted in saying, "We must've done like 50 takes."
The scene where Connie rides the train home after her first sexual encounter with Paul and silently remembering it was filmed in one continuous take. The camera simply stayed on Diane Lane as she went through a series of expressions, and then the scene was cut and edited together.
Although the film implies a considerable age gap between Connie and Paul, Diane Lane is actually just a year older than Olivier Martinez.
Brad Pitt and Ryan Phillippe were offered the role of Paul Martel. However, during pre-production, the producers decided that Paul should be French, rather than American, so Olivier Martinez received the part.
To help prepare his stars for the explicit canoodling, Adrian Lyne convened a special sex summit at which he screened footage of his 1987 thriller Attrazione fatale (1987). Particularly, the director showed Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez the now-legendary scene in which Michael Douglas and Glenn Close shag on everything including the kitchen sink.
"He took us into his trailer and gave us a good talking-to - like children that were not going to get into college if we didn't pass the test," recalls the actress. "He was saying how important it is for the actors to trust him and go well beyond their comfort level. That's what he requires." "I trusted Adrian completely," she adds. "I told him, 'I'll give you everything on film, and then when you edit it together... I can see what I'm comfortable with. I'll trust you first and then you have to trust me later.' Fortunately, he chose wisely in the editing room. I was very comfortable with the end result. It was all appropriate to the story."