A few days after Zar Amir Ebrahimi won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in this film, Iranian officials accused the Iranian-born actress and the movie's Danish-Iranian director, Ali Abbasi, of "blasphemy." Some have even gone further, calling for their executions. The Iranian Organization of Cinema and Audiovisual Affairs, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, released a statement calling the film "shameless obscenity," adding that it was "the product of the twisted mind of an Iranian-Danish man", and condemning the Cannes Festival for awarding the film the Best Actress award, calling it "an insulting and politically-motivated move". Ebrahimi also told CNN that she had received around 200 threats after the award ceremony at Cannes. The director of 'Holy Spider' and others involved in making this film have also received similar threats.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi was initially involved in the film only as a casting director, but was cast as the lead after an actress became fearful of acting without hijab and dropped out of the role at the last minute. Amir-Ebrahimi had auditioned around 50 actresses for the role she would go on to claim. Director Ali Abbasi originally wanted someone boyish, more strong physically for the role of Rahimi, as he saw her as being very young and inexperienced, and really eager to prove herself, and he thought Ebrahimi was too soft and mature to play the character he had in mind. But when he saw Ebrahimi use her life experience to remind him that desperate people make dangerous choices, his vision shifted and she was cast. Ebrahimi's performance was acclaimed and she won the Best Actress award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Based on the true story of Iranian serial killer Saeed Hanaei, known as the "Spider Killer", who murdered 16 prostitutes in Iran between 2000-2001. Hanaei was a laborer and Iran-Iraq War veteran who reportedly began his crime spree when someone mistook his wife for a prostitute.
The project started being developed in 2016. The filmmakers initially tried to shoot the film in Iran, but this idea was abandoned in 2019. A plan was made to shoot in Jordan in early 2020, which had to be pushed back several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2020, they decided to move the production to Turkey, where COVID restrictions were looser, but they were stalled by Turkish authorities. Director Ali Abbasi said that this happened because the Iranian government interfered. The production then went back to Jordan, where filming started in May 2021 and lasted 35 days.
For her performance in 'Holy Spider', Zar Amir Ebrahimi became the first Iranian actress to win the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.