The film was shot entirely in VistaVision, a widescreen format that runs 35mm film horizontally through the camera to create eight perforation film frames, twice the size and resolution of standard four perforation 35mm. The film was then released in theaters with 70mm film prints. This is the first American film in 61 years to be entirely shot in the format, the last being My Six Loves (1963). Director Brady Corbet explained: "It just seemed like the best way to access that period (1950s) was to shoot on something that was engineered in that same decade." Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) reintroduced VistaVision to create high resolution plates for visual effect shots.
This movie has an intermission built into the actual 70mm film reel that counts down from fifteen minutes. It's the first American movie to have an intermission since the 70mm roadshow release of The Hateful Eight (2015).
Filming took place for a total of 34 days between March 16 and May 5, 2023. It was shot in Budapest, Hungary and in Carrara, Italy.
The marble sequence was shot in the same quarry where Michelangelo carved The Pietà - a statue of Holy Mary cradling the body of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion at Mount Golgotha. The same statue stands in the Vatican's Saint Peter's Basilica, and it was vandalized on 21 May 1972 by a real-life Laszlo Toth - a geologist who struck it 15 times with a hammer, breaking an arm off. The statue was restored and is now protected by bulletproof glass.
At 3 hours and 34 minutes, this is the fifth-longest film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, after:
- Cleopatra (1963): 4 hours and 8 minutes.
- Gone with the Wind (1939): 3 hours and 46 minutes.
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962): 3 hours and 42 minutes.
- The Ten Commandments (1956): 3 hours and 40 minutes.