When asked why she did this movie, Dame Helen Mirren replied, "Because they gave me a shitload of money to do it."
This movie was originally to be called "Killing Mrs. Tingle". The events on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which thirteen people were murdered by two of their own classmates, prompted the name change.
Dame Helen Mirren described the part of Mrs. Tingle as her "dream role", noting that the appeal was the ability to lay in bed all day in the "most comfortable costume I've ever worn."
Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver, and Sally Field were considered for the role of Mrs. Tingle.