The role of Rachel was first offered to Jennifer Connelly. The script was then offered to Gwyneth Paltrow, and then to Kate Beckinsale, and finally Naomi Watts.
This is a remake of the Japanese horror of the same name
Chris Cooper was supposed to be featured in a small role as a child murderer. Though his scenes were allegedly filmed and his name was included in early promotional materials (and on the film's official website) he's nowhere to be seen in the final theatrical cut.
Subliminal frames from the Ring video are inserted in the film. For example, the 'Ring' image can be glimpsed for a fraction of a second in the transition between the ferry/horse sequence and Rachel's car drive to Anna Morgan's farm on Moesko Island. And on the DVD of The Ring, if you try to slow motion rewind back to see one of the images, the DVD won't let you, causing you to doubt whether you actually saw it.
The other videos on the shelf where Rachel finds the Ring video are: Shattered (1991), Scent of a Woman (1992), Spontaneous Combustion (1990), Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983), Sodom and Gomorrah (1962), The Looking Glass War (1969), Visions of a New World (1995) (V), Family Plot (1976), Steel Magnolias (1989), The Man from Snowy River (1982) and School Ties (1992).
The original WGA-approved credits listed Hiroshi Takahashi (writer of the original 1998 screenplay for Ringu (1998)) but his name is absent from the final print.
There are several visual references to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, including Rear Window (1954), Psycho (1960) and Family Plot (1976). Ironically, Hitchcock himself once directed a totally unrelated boxing movie called The Ring (1927).
Subtle images of circles in various forms, such as the designs on the doctor's sweater, the shower drain and Rachel's apartment number, appear throughout the movie.
The red Japanese maple (seen in the video) was artificial, built out of steel tubing and plaster, with painted silk for the leaves. (The crew dubbed it "Lucille" after "a certain red-haired actress"). While filming in Washington state, the tree was erected three times, only to have it knocked over by nearly 100-mile-an-hour wind gusts. In Los Angeles it was erected for a fourth time, only to be blown down again, this time by 60-mile-an-hour winds.
The tree with the fiery red leaves featured in the movie is a Japanese maple. The fruit of this tree is known as a "samara".
In both the American and Japanese versions, the name of the little girl is connected to a story about death. The name "Samara" refers to a story retold by W. Somerset Maugham (Appointment in Samarra) about a man who meets Death in the marketplace and flees to the town of Samarra. The name "Sadako" refers to the true Japanese story: "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", about a girl who was dying of Leukemia, (as a result of the atom bomb) and believed that she would survive if she made 1,000 origami cranes.
Production designer Tom Duffield relied on Andrew Wyeth paintings as his main visual inspiration for the film.
Chris Cooper can be seen at the end of the film in Noah's loft. His photograph is on the newspaper that that is revealed when Noah moves his coffee cup.
When Noah and Rachel return to the inn, at the end of the movie, there's a sign that reads "Closed until further notice", under the "Shelter Mountain Inn" sign. In an earlier cut of the film, the cabin manager dies from watching the tape (see "Alternate Versions"). Probably that's the reason for the inn being closed.
Numerous scenes were cut down or entirely cut from the film before release. Some scenes were present only at test screenings. Others showed up in previews or the "Don't Watch This" short film on the DVD.
- Samara's line "Everyone will suffer" was cut out the film but can be heard in the previews.
- The bathtub suicide was much more graphic.
- Samara's murder lasted longer in the original cut of the film and was much more brutal than what audiences saw in theatres. Originally, the plastic bag over Samara's head failed to subdue her, leading her killer to repeatedly strike her in the head with a large rock (which can be seen lying on the ground in some shots of the well). The rock only weakened Samara, and finally her killer resorted to slamming her head against the side of the well before dumping her in.
- Some test screenings contained scenes at the beginning and end of the film involving a murderer played by Chris Cooper. The first scene involved the murderer approaching Rachel, asking her to help clear his name, claiming he is rehabilitated and no longer a threat to society. She knows he's lying and refuses. Then at the end of the movie, she pays him a visit and drops off a copy of the video. Noah goes over to Rachel's apartment and trying to find the video. When the babysitter hears him say it's a homemade video and it might be in the bedroom, she starts laughing. He finds the distorted pictures of the kids from the beginning in Rachel's room. One of the pictures shows the sign for the inn. This leads into another scene where Noah goes to the rental cabins and finds the body of the cabin manager dead in a canoe on the lake.
- There was a scene where asks crab-fishers on the island about the Morgans. They say that no one could get a good haul when Samara was around. There's additional material with Rachel in Cabin 12 where she tries to watch TV, but the reception is terrible and finds a journal left by the previous guests.
- Visual effects supervisor Charles Gibson said in an interview that another sequence was "previsualized", but cut from the film. "It was an all-CG montage of the 'Ring' tape being created from a point of view inside the VCR.
- There is an alternate scene for Rachel and Ruth's discussion at the funeral, Rachel searches Katie's room and finds the ticket for photos. Ruth comes in and they discuss information Rachel found out from some of Katie's friends. Ruth becomes frustrated and angry about not knowing why Katie died, and charges towards the closet and explains to Rachel that she found Katie there. There is a flashback with Ruth finding Katie's corpse in the closet (same flashback used in the funeral scene).
- Midway through the movie Rachel rents some movies and gets laughs from one of the employees over her picks. This led to an alternate ending, in which Rachel put the cursed tape in the sleeve for one of her rented movies and returned it to the store, where it ended up under "employee picks."
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