Within Hollywood, director Nancy Meyers is known for doing a rather large number of re-takes for any given scene segment. And during the shooting for The Holiday, at the end of a large number of re-takes for one particular segment of the newspaper Christmas party scene, lead actress Kate Winslet aroused a good-natured laugh from everyone on set when, after the end of what she felt was a particularly good take following another long series of takes, she dropped to her knees in front of a table, clasped her hands together on the tabletop, and began to pantomime a prayer for that to be the last take of the segment.

This film was written specifically with actors Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black in mind.

While directing the love scene between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, director Sam Mendes opted to watch the monitor from another room.

At the end of Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character dies and Kate Winslet’s lives. At the end of this film, the opposite happens.

The second time Kate Winslet has been in a movie where she makes love in a vintage car and someone’s hand hits the window and slides down it in the throes of passion.

It is noted above that Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kathy Bates all appeared in Titanic, but the character interrelationships here are almost exactly the inverse. In Titanic, Winslet and Dicaprio are members of different classes but with similar values, and their love proved stronger than society’s rules. In this film, they are both middle class but with different priorities imprinted upon them by society, and it is society’s pressure that causes their fundamental schism. In Titanic Kathy Bates’ character is a rich person with commoner values who approved of the main character’s dreams and believed the rules of society were ridiculous. In this film, Bates is a middle-class suburbanite who puts on airs of “propriety” and promotes the oppressive rules of society to such a degree that she alienates her own son and hypocritically “never liked” her good friends the Wheelers after their scandal.

The second time Kathy Bates has played opposite both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

The first time Kate Winslet plays a character named April, the second time Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character named Frank, and the third time Kathy Bates plays a character named Helen.

The post-sinking scenes were shot in a 350,000 gallon tank where the frozen corpses were created by applying a powder on the actors that then crystallized when exposed to water. Wax was applied to hair and clothes to create a wet look.

Kate Winslet was one of the few actors who didn’t want to wear a wetsuit during the water scenes. She got pneumonia, as a result.