- Advertised Extra: Lenny Kravitz actually received billing ahead of Gabourey Sidibe, despite the latter being the star of the movie. He really isn't in the movie anywhere near enough to warrant his placement on the promotional image seen on the main page.
- Dawson Casting: 26-year-old (at the time) Gabourey Sidibe as 16-year-old Precious.
- Deleted Role: Jamie Foxx's cameo Frank Mason was cut.
- I Am Not Spock: After the movie made Gabourey Sidbe into a breakout star, many people started to confuse her with the character and began showering her with woobie-appropriate sympathy, despite growing up in a loving, functional two-parent family. She mocked the phenomenon in her monologue on Saturday Night Live in a grand musical number. "I am happy, because I'm not Precious!"
- Playing Against Type: Mo'Nique, best known as a stand-up comic and reality TV show host, puts in the performance of a lifetime as an abusive mother. She won virtually every Supporting Actress award for her role as Mary.
- Reality Subtext: Mo'Nique accepted her role to raise awareness of sexual abuse. A confessed victim of incest herself, she initially had great reservations about playing the part, but ultimately found the experience therapeutic.
- Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Lee Daniels fired a crewmember for failing to light the Black actors’ skin properly
. - Throw It In!:
- Before filming the scene in which Precious slaps Consuelo for saying "F for Fat," Lee Daniels told Gabourey Sidibe to slap Angelic Zambrana as hard as she could while purposely not telling the other girls beforehand. In the film, the reactions from the girls in that scene after she does so is actually unrehearsed.
- If you listen closely as Precious is leaving with Little Mongo at the end of the movie, Mongo actually calls Mary "Mo'Nique". That's not exactly her fault, though, as a toddler can't really be expected to maintain character all the time.
- In the final confrontation scene, Mariah Carey was not directed to cry, but react with stone-faced horror, just as Ms. Weiss does in the novel. However, she was so overpowered by the performances of Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe, she broke down in tears and ducked her head away from the camera, as not to ruin the scene. Daniels loved her natural reaction and kept the shot of her wiping her tears in the final cut.
- What Could Have Been: Helen Mirren was originally cast as Mrs. Weiss, but dropped out.
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