Here is a list of behind-the-scenes photos and facts about the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The title comes from Eloisa to Abelard, a poem by Alexander Pope
The film was originally pitched in 1998, though didn’t come out until 2005. Both Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry wanted to abandon writing the script when they heard about the similarly themed Memento
Kate Winslet calls Clementine her favorite of her performances
Nicolas Cage was an early consideration to play Joel
Before Jim Carrey got a hold of the script for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and expressed an interest in playing the role of Joel, the producers were considering Nicolas Cage (who, coincidentally, is a close personal friend of Carrey’s) for the part.
Some of the film’s alternative titles misled foreign audiences
Unfortunately, the alternative titles for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind misled audiences. The title of the Italian release translates as “If you leave me, I deleted you,” and the Spanish release was titled “¡Olvídate de mí!,” which translates to “Forget about me!,” so Italian and Spanish audiences were incorrectly expecting to see a comedy.
Clementine was given a variety of different hair colors at different stages of her relationship with Joel so that audiences would be able to keep track of the movie’s complicated chronology
Because the movie was shot out of order, Kate Winslet wore wigs instead of dyeing her hair
Clementine’s hair changes color constantly throughout the movie, and the different colors are used to let the audience know at which point in her relationship with Joel a given scene is taking place. However, since the scenes were all shot out of order, it wasn’t logistical for Kate Winslet to dye her hair each of the colors.
Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst shot a love scene that got cut
Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst shot a sex scene for this movie that was ultimately cut due to concerns about the runtime.
