Heike Makatsch originally had to back out of the project due to her pregnancy in 2006. But, pre-production was then delayed and she was eventually able to take the lead part.
The first audition lines, which Hilde is reading at the film academy Babelsberg are from the play "Faust" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The lines are said by the female lead Gretchen in the main play's 15th scene named "Gretchen's parlor".
The lines which are seen from time to time between the scenes are quotes from Hildegard Knef's "Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen". It is sang in the final scene of the movie.