Red Sparrow

Nate uses a scythe to decode some messages. It is a very weak encryption method, but it is still useful in situations where the recipient can move faster than the opponent can decode (and understand) the message.

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Source novel author Jason Matthews may not have encountered a real-life Dominika during his work with the CIA, but the "honeypot" school really was part of Soviet intelligence training. "In the Soviet Union, they had a school that taught young women the art of entrapment, the art of seduction, blackmailing intelligence targets," Matthews explained. "In the city of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga River, there was a Sparrow School where young women were taught to be prostitutes. They were called 'Sparrows.'".

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Jennifer Lawrence did ballet for four months and worked on a Russian accent to prepare for the role, spending three hours a day working with Hollywood ballet instructor Kurt Froman. She said it was difficult because she never wanted to do ballet.

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It is adapted from the 2013 novel of the same name by retired CIA agent Jason Matthews. Before the novel was even finished, Matthews sold the film rights for a seven-figure sum. The novel is the first book in a trilogy, the others being Palace of Treason and The Kremlin's Candidate.

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While directing Jennifer Lawrence on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), Francis Lawrence said Jennifer told him she was not interested in doing films with nudity or any kind of explicit sexuality. When he began developing Red Sparrow, he immediately thought she would be perfect for it, but he was nervous she would not want to do it because of what she had told him. But when he brought it to her, he was relieved that she agreed to do the nudity and so on.

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During a Russian Intelligence Agency meeting, General Korchnoi (Jeremy Irons) raises his cigarette to partly cover his face as he wonders who the Russian mole is. The screen then cuts to an image of the Russian mole, whose hand hides his face in almost the same way.

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Since the name Dominika is almost never heard in Russian-speaking countries, the Russian dub changes Dominika's name to "Veronica."

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American ballet dancer Isabella Boylston was Jennifer Lawrence's dance double in the film.

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Director Francis Lawrence showed Jennifer Lawrence the final cut of Red Sparrow before anyone else, including the producers and the studio, because he wanted her to be happy with the amount of nudity she showed. He said he gave her the option to cut whichever shot she wanted, but she left them all in as shots. She did not cut anything.

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Jennifer Lawrence's real-life best friend and also her assistant on the film, Laura Simpson Ternosky, plays the woman sitting with Dominika at the hotel bar in Moscow.

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The Russian characters are played by American, British, Irish, Belgian, Dutch, German, Ukrainian and Polish actors. The film's main American character (Nate Nash) is played by Australian actor Joel Edgerton.

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Critics and viewers noted that Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts bears a striking resemblance to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the film. However, according to director Francis Lawrence, Schoenaerts was not deliberately cast for his resemblance to Putin, and the director only noticed the similarity between them on set. Schoenaerts's resemblance to Putin had been noticed earlier when he appeared in films such as Suite Française (2014) and The Danish Girl (2015).

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is a significant figure in the book on which the film is based. However, Fox decided to remove him from the film adaptation. When Fox executive Emma Watts bought the book in 2013, she moved the story from present-day Russia to 1970s Budapest, supposedly to give it a more "timeless" feel - and although Putin has a significant role in the book, he was dropped. Later, after Francis Lawrence joined as director, Watts moved the story back to the present day. Despite the surge of interest in the Kremlin following the (2016) US election, Putin's character was not restored. Insiders describe the moves as "creative choices," but by avoiding Putin, Fox also steers clear of Russian hackers who might protest.

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When the project was announced in 2013, talks were underway for Darren Aronofsky to direct. Aronofsky left in 2014, and that same year talks were held for David Fincher and Rooney Mara to take on the film's directing and lead role, respectively. In July 2015, it was reported that Francis Lawrence was in talks to direct the film. In September 2015, it was announced that Jennifer Lawrence would star and Francis Lawrence would direct.

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The skin-peeling tool used in the torture scene is a standard air dermatome commonly used in plastic surgery to take skin grafts. This dermatome makes very realistic cuts even though it does not have the compressed air hose it needs to operate. Also, the pitch of the noise from a real working dermatome is slightly higher.

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Sergei Polunin (Konstantin) is actually a professional ballet dancer.

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General Korchnoi's name is a subtle Easter egg, and his character is the mole. He shares the same surname as Viktor Korchnoi, the most famous chess master to leave the Soviet Union, whose challenges to the Soviet chess establishment are shown in Closing Gambit: Korchnoi vs Karpov & Kremlin (2018).

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Jennifer Lawrence and director Francis Lawrence are not related.

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Its plot resembles the Cold War-era TV film Secret Weapons (1985). Linda Hamilton played the character 'Dominika Egorova,' and Sally Kellerman played the character 'Matron.' Many of the scenes at the school are very similar.

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This is Francis Lawrence's fourth collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence. They had previously worked together on the Hunger Games series (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)).

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Red Sparrow has no opening title sequence other than the film's title.

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