Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.
Trivia:The second film to feature both Viola Davis and Thomas Mann, after 2010's It's Kind of a Funny Story.
Jack O'Connell was originally cast as Ethan Wate, but was replaced by Alden Ehrenreich right before filming began.
Filming in Louisiana was temporarily halted due to a tornado warning.
Director Richard LaGravenese wanted as little green screen as possible. In the Caster holiday dinner sequence, the set was built so that the table would spin with the actors on bolted chairs. The floor beneath the table would also spin, in the opposite direction, with Alice Englert and Emmy Rossum strapped to "parade float" stands. The entire set was built on hydraulics so it could be rocked. On a speed scale of 1 to 10, the actors are spinning at an 8. The sequence took three days to shoot. Lagravenese, a victim of motion sickness, took Dramamine to direct it.
In the "snow sequence", the song playing over the scene - "Needle and Thread" - was written and recorded by Alice Englert in her hotel room in New Orleans during pre-production. Director Richard LaGravenese wanted it for the movie.
Ethan's failure to recite the Charles Bukowski poem was actually Alden Ehrenreich having difficulty remembering the order of the lines and making Alice Englert laugh. He performed the poem perfectly in all other takes. But Director Richard LaGravenese liked the idea of a "Romeo" trying to impress a "Juliet" and screwing up the poetry.
The original score is the first composed by the band Thenewno2 - Dhani Harrison, Paul Hicks and 'Jonathon Sadoff'. The band began creating the score at Friar Park Studios Henley-on-Thames. The guitar solo on the love theme at the burning Gatlin sign is the same guitar used in (Dhani's father) George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". The score was recorded at Abbey Road in Studio 2.
The role of Amma is actually a combination of two roles from the book; Amma, a housekeeper/Seer, and Marian, a librarian and Ethan's late mother's best friend. Screenwriter/director Richard LaGravenese combined the two parts in the hope of attracting a great actress. 'Viola Davis' was his first and only choice for the role.
The poetry on the walls and ceiling of Lena's room are sourced from four poets: William Blake, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Rumi.
All the caster's have different types of basic caster powers. Lena is a Natural (can control the weather and elements), Ridley is a Siren (can control and influence people), Sarafine is a Cataclyst (a Natural except dark), Aunt Del is a Palimpsest (someone who reads time), Gramma is an Empath (can copy another casters powers for a short time), Genevieve was also a Natural/Cataclyst, and Macon has a form of telepathy.
In the books Macon Ravenwood is an Incubus, or vampire. However, in the film he is portrayed as a powerful caster.
