Trivia / The Virgin Suicides

• California Doubling: The film takes place in Detroit, but was filmed in Toronto.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Hanna Hall screen tested for the role of Lux. When it was decided she was too young, she was cast as Cecilia instead.
• Dawson Casting: The teenage characters were played by Josh Hartnett (20) and AJ Cook (21). Averted with Kirsten Dunst, who was 17 and Chelse Swain (16). Hanna R Hall was just a couple of years older than Cecilia too (and had actually been auditioning for Lux).
• Fake American: A.J. Cook, Hayden Christensen, and Joe Dinicol are Canadian.
• Production Posse: Sofia Coppola had played Kathleen Turner's sister in Peggy Sue Got Married and directs her here. She would go on to work with Kirsten Dunst in Marie Antoinette (2006) and The Beguiled (and she'd cameo in The Bling Ring).
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Paul Baldino is played by Sofia Coppola's cousin Robert Schwartzman.
  • Paul Sybersma's actual mom Susan plays his character Joe Larsen's mom.
  • Her brother Roman Coppola was the second-unit director.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Josh Hartnett had to wear a wig to achieve that '70s Hair, as he'd had to get a crew cut for Black Hawk Down.
• Referenced by...: In My Dark Vanessa, Vanessa talks to older men on Instant Messenger. If any of them ask for a picture of her, she sends them a picture of Kirsten Dunst in The Virgin Suicides. None of them ever call her on it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sofia Coppola wrote a script only to discover another company was producing their own adaptation. When they weren't happy with their script, she showed them hers, and they ended up using it.
  • Alicia Silverstone turned down the role of Mary.
  • Scarlett Johansson was offered a role and turned it down, feeling the material was "too intense". She would of course later work with Sofia Coppola in Lost in Translation.