Trivia

French actress Leslie Coutterand was on call throughout the entire shoot to replace Lindsay Lohan at a moment's notice due to Lohan's repeated absences. Coutterrand was essentially paid to be Lohan's understudy in case she left the set and didn't return. Problem was, she was in France. Also, once Lohan filmed her first couple of scenes, she knew there was less chance of her being replaced because the production couldn't afford to reshoot her scenes with another actress.

The film was first submitted to the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, but rejected because of unspecified "quality issues" according to an anonymous member of the selection team, that spoke with the media. This breach of confidentiality is highly unusual for a film festival and was strongly criticized by director Paul Schrader, because it damaged the festival career of his film, which was then also rejected by the SXSW Film Festival, probably because they didn't want to be seen as a second-rate festival taking leftovers. Schrader received an apology by Sundance, but the damage through the American media reports was already done. Fortunately, there was far more interest by prestigious film festivals in Europe, where Schrader still has a strong reputation as an 'auteur'. Schrader said, that his film had been invited into the competition of the 66th Locarno International Film Festival (in early Aug. 2013), but he decided that a European premiere out of competition at the much bigger 70th Venice International Film Festival (in late Aug. 2013) would be better for the film's promotion.

As described in a New York Times article by Stephen Rodrick about the film's unusual production, Paul Schrader directed a sex scene naked in an effort to placate the reluctant Lindsay Lohan who was refusing to take off her clothes. Lohan didn't ask Schrader to take off his clothes though. That was his idea. [Jan. 10, 2013]

According to screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis, in some scenes Lindsay Lohan was drunk.

Lindsay Lohan was hired based on starpower, and was supposedly fired before the production due to completely vanishing during a key meeting. When production started, she was in a constant struggle with Paul Schrader, had to be persuaded to do nude scenes, and often showed up late after partying all night (one night staying out until 5:30 AM with Lady Gaga - when she had a 6 AM call time).