Trivia

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 theaters with 70mm film prints. Though starting with Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) VistaVision has continued to see limited use to create high resolution plates for visual effect shots, 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."

This movie has an intermission built into the actual 70mm film reel that counts down from fifteen minutes. It's the first Western movie to have an intermission since the 70mm roadshow release of The Hateful Eight (2015). However, intervals are practically universal in Indian cinema, whose structure implies two distinct halves separated by the intermission. Often, a major plot development occurs right before the intermission.

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.

The movie was first announced in 2020 with a cast consisting of Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance as the main characters, alongside Sebastian Stan, Vanessa Kirby, Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, Raffey Cassidy and Alessandro Nivola. After several delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the cast was replaced in 2022. Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance were replaced by Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, respectively. While Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, Alessandro Nivola and Raffey Cassidy remained in the cast.