To avoid potential confusion with 50 Shades of Gray, many alternative titles were considered to replace the original title, "Between Shades of Gray". Screenwriter Ben York Jones came up with Ashes in the Snow, for its similarity in cadence, and its narrative significance.
Deportation scenes involved more than 700 extras, including people who have been actually deported to Siberia.
"Ashes in the Snow" is the #1 highest box-office grossing film of all-time in Lithuania, the country where the story and production took place, beating out such mega studio titles as "Avatar" and "50 Shades of Grey".
Based on the book by Ruta Sepetys.
Filmed from January to April 2016, but not released in the United States until its limited release in January 2019.