The film, which involves the (fictional) murder of a young girl in a small New Zealand town, became the subject of some controversy when extra Steven Williams was convicted of the real-life murder of his own step-daughter. Calls from the victim's family to censor Williams' brief appearance in the film were turned down by the producers on economic grounds. Some New Zealand DVD retailers refused to stock the DVD as a consequence.
McKenzie's script draws on material he and Miranda Harcourt developed for her theatre piece, "Portraits", which itself drew on their own interviews with rapists, murderers and victims' families.
Lucy Wigmore's debut.