Alternate castings

Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette played Cole and Lynn Sear respectively, but the actors weren’t always attached to those characters.

Initially, Michael Cera - who was just 10 years old at the time - auditioned for the role of Cole, but was rejected after playing a scene too "upbeat".

As for the role of Lynn, Marisa Tomei was also in contention for the part but ultimately lost the role to Toni Collette - who herself was disappointed as she had been hoping to appear in Martin Scorsese's movie 'Bringing Out the Dead' instead.