Trivia / Crimson Peak

• Actor-Inspired Element: Tom Hiddleston was the one who suggested having Thomas be more naked than Edith during their love scene. As a result, there's barely any nudity from Edith (apart from Show Some Leg) and Thomas bares his ass.
• Actor-Inspired Heroism: Originally Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Thomas Sharpe and he was written as a more sinister and aloof character. After Cumberbatch dropped out and Tom Hiddleston replaced him in the role, Thomas was rewritten to make him outwardly more vulnerable and warm-hearted.
• Approval of God: Benedict Cumberbatch (the original choice for Thomas) gave his approval to replacement Tom Hiddleston.
• California Doubling: Ontario doubled for Buffalo.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Guillermo del Toro actually offered Jessica Chastain the role of Edith when Emma Stone dropped out. When she read the script, Jessica instead thought Lucille would be more challenging to play and asked to be her.
• The Danza: Tom Hiddleston plays Thomas Sharpe.
• Enforced Method Acting: The fog in the final scene was done live on set with a prop machine. Mia Wasikowsa said it helped create a dizzy and disorienting feeling necessary for the scene.
• Fake American:
  • Australian Mia Wasikowska plays American Edith Cushing.
  • Charlie Hunnam and Burn Gorman play Americans as well.
• Fake Brit: American Jessica Chastain plays British Lucille Sharpe.
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Del Toro regards this as one of his "three best films" and was frustrated by the mixed reaction it received.
• No Stunt Double: Mia Wasikowska did Edith's fall down the stairs when Lucille pushes her without a double.
• Playing Against Type: Jessica Chastain usually plays moral and helpful characters. Here, she plays the insane, hysterical and incestuous Big Bad.
• Production Posse: Del Toro works with Pacific Rim cast members Charlie Hunnam and Burn Gorman once again. Doug Jones, a regular in his films ever since Hellboy (2004), once again plays the monsters. (Or in this case, the ghosts.) On the technical side, Del Toro also reunites with cinematographer Dan Laustsen, who's last film they worked on together was Del Toro's own Mimic.
• Reality Subtext: Jessica Chastain had admitted to going through a Gothic Horror phase as a teenager, and her looks weren't too different from Lucille's.
• Referenced by...: In Nightmare Alley (2021), the safe in Lilith's office is labeled "Enola", the same name as one of the Allerdale Hall ghosts.
• Significant Double Casting: The ghosts of Edith's mother and the Sharpes' mother are both played by Doug Jones. The ghosts of Thomas's three ex-wives are all played by Javier Botet.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Stone were originally cast as Sir Thomas Sharpe and Edith Cushing but both ended up dropping out of the film. They were replaced by Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska.
  • The scene between Edith and Thomas near the end at the elevator was meant to have Thomas confessing all his crimes and give Edith an Anguished Declaration of Love. On the day, they all decided that the speech was too wordy, and rewrote it to the shorter exchange that happens in the finished film.
  • Early script drafts were going to have Edith be in her mid to late 20s, as a comment on how Edwardian women were considered an Old Maid if not married by 23, but when Jessica Chastain declined to play Edith in favor of Lucille and Mia Wasikowska was cast for the role, Del Toro reworked the script to be a Coming of Age Story for Edith, who starts off with childish ideas of love but then learns of all its horrors and complexities after she marries Thomas.
  • When Emma Stone was still playing Edith, her character was written as being more confident and "sort of American in a slightly brash way". When Mia Wasikowska was cast, Edith's character was altered to have "a more quiet, introspective" personality.
• Word of Gay: According to Jessica Chastain, she played Lucille as having more sexual fantasies about women than about men, without even telling the director she was doing this.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: New scenes were constantly being thought up during production.

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