Annika Wedderkopp was never told during filming what exactly Lucas was accused of. She was only told her character lied about him committing a crime.
Director Thomas Vinterberg was approached in 1999 by child psychologist Søren Friis Smith, congratulating him for The Celebration (1998) and giving him a pile of newspaper articles, scientific reports and personal notes about cases where people had been wrongfully accused of pedophilia, telling him he had to make a film about the subject.
Thomas Bo Larsen's fake beard would constantly fall off due to the enormous amounts of alcohol in his blood: he was struggling with alcoholism at the time of filming.
Premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, as the first Danish-language film in the main competition since 1998.
End credits say, "Deer were shot by professional hunters who maintain the population. The dog did not suffer during filming."