Alan Arkin and Greg Kinnear had appeared together previously in 'Little Miss Sunshine ' (2006).
At first titled The Convincer, the initial edit of the film was screened in January 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival. Distributors ATO and production company Werc Werk Works demanded that director/writer Jill Sprecher make sweeping changes to the film from the version shown at Sundance in order to speed the film up. The production company claimed that Sprecher "refused to be part of the process," while she stated she was never allowed to review the distributor's notes to make any comments on them. The revisions were made without her input, replacing the original composer, Alex Wurman, and the original editor, Stephen Mirrione. Sprecher was prevented from speaking to the press, but said she is "heartbroken and devastated," wanted to remove her name from the film, but was not allowed to do so. The completely re-cut film was retitled Thin Ice. Sprecher reportedly learned of the name through the Internet and not from the production company.
The Convincer cut received generally positive reviews from critics at the Sundance Film Festival. The re-cut Thin Ice received uniformly negative responses ("disappointing," "poorly edited," "a stinker") after screenings at B-List festivals in October 2011. Thin Ice received positive responses from critics with a "fresh" rating of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 59 reviews. Following the further festival run, the film was released theatrically in February 2012.
The Convincer cut received generally positive reviews from critics at the Sundance Film Festival. The re-cut Thin Ice received uniformly negative responses ("disappointing," "poorly edited," "a stinker") after screenings at B-List festivals in October 2011. Thin Ice received positive responses from critics with a "fresh" rating of 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 59 reviews. Following the further festival run, the film was released theatrically in February 2012.
Filming began in February and ended in March 2010, and, though set in Wisconsin, was shot during winter in Minnesota; in Bloomington, St. Paul and Minnetonka in particular.