The swamp behind the Devereaux house was created with CGI effects. The actual house used in this movie, Felicity Plantation, is situated inland in St. James Parish, and is surrounded by farmland. The fictional Devereaux house was situated in Terrebonne Parish, which is coastal and swampy.
Sir John Hurt offered to perform the stunt of Ben falling off the roof, but he was not allowed, as the stunt was ruled too dangerous to guarantee no injury.
The gas station that Caroline visits has a wind chime made of bones hanging from the front entry way. They are raccoon penile bones.
At the opening of this movie, the book that Caroline (Kate Hudson) is reading to the hospice patient is Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." Toward the beginning of that work, Jim Hawkins is caring for the elderly Billy Bones after the man has a stroke. Caroline begins her ordeal in the same way: taking care of the elderly Ben Devereaux post-stroke.
The film was scheduled to shoot in 2003, but Kate Hudson became pregnant, and her character's pregnancy was not appropriate, so the production was postponed until next spring (2004).