Trivia for
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• The film was originally slated to star Kate Hudson and Ralph Fiennes and be directed by 'Mike Newell' . Hudson pulled out during preproduction (allegedly because she refused to wear a wimple for the role), which resulted in funding being pulled, and by the time new funding was secured, Newell had to move on to another project. After a director search, Peter Webber was tapped for the job and held auditions for a new female lead. He settled on Kirsten Dunst, who then dropped the project in wake of Spider-Man (2002)'s success. At this point, Fiennes had been waiting so long that he too had to move on to other scheduled projects, and so became unavailable. Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth were then cast.
  
  
• The movie was partially shot on the Venice set that had been built in Luxembourg for Secret Passage (2004). For this movie Venice was modified to become Delft.
  
  
• Although Vermeer and the painting both are real historic figures, the screenplay is based on Tracy Chevalier's novel and therefore largely fictional or hypothetical. Only 36 Vermeer paintings are known to exist today, and none of the models have ever been positively identified. A poster of the painting in her bedroom inspired Chevalier to write her own version of how it came to exist based on the framework of Vermeer's known history. Chevalier sold the film rights and opted not to have any involvement in the film or screenplay, although after its release said she was pleased with the results.
  
  
• The painting that Griet inspired Vermeer to paint while she is washing the window of his studio is called "Woman with a Water Jug". It is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY.
  
  
• A subplot with David Morrissey as a friend of Vermeer was dropped during editing of the film. None of his scenes feature on the DVD release.
  
  

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