Eva Green, who plays Shailene Woodley's mother in the film is, in reality, only 11 years older than Woodley.
Shailene Woodley was very keen to work with Gregg Araki, being a major fan of his film Mysterious Skin (2004).
Star Shailene Woodley explained to Glamour UK magazine why she decided to take the role knowing it would involve nudity and how she can't understand why other actresses insist on wearing underwear during sex scenes. "I'm totally comfortable with nudity. I'm not sure it empowers me as an actress or anything, but if I'm going to do a movie with sex scenes, then I'm going to be naked, because I don't know about you, but I don't have sex with bras and panties on."
Gregg Araki is a fan of Sheryl Lee's performance in Twin Peaks : Les 7 derniers jours de Laura Palmer (1992), which he called "one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema".