Trivia / The Magdalene Sisters

• Actor-Inspired Element: Eileen Walsh chose to play Crispina as someone who was happy in the laundry, at least at first.
• California Doubling: The film was shot in Scotland.
• Creator Cameo: Peter Mullan plays Una's father.
• Dawson Casting:
  • A justified example. Nora Jane Noone was eighteen playing the teenage Bernadette. But the film covers a few years, matching Bernadette's age with Nora's by the end.
  • Eileen Walsh was also a couple of years older than Crispina is said to be.
• Fake Irish:
  • West End veteran Geraldine McEwan as Sister Bridget.
  • Southall native Anne-Marie Duff as Margaret. Her parents however are Irish.
  • Downplayed by Chris-Patrick Simpson, who is Northern Irish, but puts on a Dublin accent to play Brendan.
  • Director Peter Mullan is Scottish, playing Una's Irish father.
• Reality Subtext: Nora-Jane Noone says that her father worked at one laundry when he was thirteen, doing a job similar to Brendan.
• Typecasting:
  • Anne-Marie Duff starred in this and the BBC's Sinners around the same time, also playing a "fallen" woman in Ireland. She called it a "spooky coincidence".
  • One of Dorothy Duffy's only other roles was in an episode of Holby City playing a pregnant woman.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Vanessa Redgrave was cast as Sister Bridget. She dropped out due to her mother's ill health, and was replaced with Geraldine McEwan.
  • The scene with Una's father returning her to the laundry was originally much longer - and he had a longer speech. Director Peter Mullan felt that any actors they tested weren't getting it, so he decided to do it himself. Upon seeing the scene, he realised the speech didn't work, and cut it down.