When casting Jodie Foster, Jean-Pierre Jeunet met her in Paris at the café which was used to shoot the scenes in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) which is near where he lives. Some tourists were at the café, knowing it was featured in the film, asked Jeunet and Foster to move out of the way (not recognizing them) so that they could take a photograph of the café.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet met Jodie Foster as she was supervising the dubbed version of Panic Room (2002). The main roles were already taken but Jodie Foster agreed to star in a little role, as Elodie Gordes. She speaks French fluently, so she acted with her own voice.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet originally wanted to cast Dominique Pinon as Germain Pire the private eye and Ticky Holgado as uncle Sylvain. However, Holgado had been diagnosed with cancer and the studio refused to insure him. Therefore, Jeunet decided to switch the actors and did not regret his decision afterward. As Holgado became more and more ill, he began to have trouble concentrating and remembering his lines. Jeunet prepared a rough cut of the movie for Holgado to see, but Ticky passed on before he could do so.
A Paris court ruling prevented the movie from receiving State financial aid reserved to French movie production companies because it was produced by a company owned by Warner Bros., hence not a French company.
Disqualified by a Paris court to compete in French film festivals (such as the prestigious Cannes Film Festival) because of American backing from Warner Brothers, and because it was shown in the United States, a country other than its nation of origin, regardless of the fact that the same Paris court ruled that the movie was too American.